Gold Ounce 2019 Chinese Trade Dollar, Coin from Niue - detailed information

Niue, a sovereign state in free association with New Zealand, uses two official legal tender currencies. The New Zealand Dollar is the circulation currency for daily transactions, while the government also authorises legal tender coins in the Niue Dollar currency for collector's purposes.

A number of mints issue a large variety of commemorative and collector coins under the authority of Niue. These coins are dedicated to historical or general popular culture themes not related to Niue itself. Many of them are in standard bullion sizes - such as one ounce of gold (abbreviated as 1 oz Au, where "Au" comes from the Latin word for gold, Aurum).

The 2019 1 oz Niue Chinese Trade Dollar Gold Coin is part of a range dedicated to "trade dollars" and is inspired by the Chinese Trade Dollar, also known as a Dragon Dollar.

The Mint says about this coin:
The ferocious depiction of a mythical dragon in traditional Chinese style appeared on a new silver Chinese coin in 1889, following the reorganisation of Chinese weights and measures sanctioned by the legendary Empress Dowager Cixi - one of the last empresses of China’s Qing Dynasty - in her quest to modernise China’s economy. Arising from the surge in western merchants looking to trade with China following the opening of Opium Wars, the Chinese Trade Dollar was minted in the same specification as the trusted and preferred Spanish 8 Reales and became commonly known as "silver dragons" or "dragon dollars".

Created by commerce, the silver trade dollars of the Orient became the "calling card" for nations looking to exchange silver bullion for luxuries with the Far East. Beautifully designed and faithfully inspired by the original Trade Dollars of Britain, United States, China, France and Japan, The Trade Dollar collection is a series of five trade dollars struck to the highest proof quality in 1oz gold and 1oz silver weights creating a five coin collection to treasure and collect.