Gold Ounce 2021 Pirates of the Caribbean - The Empress, 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 coins under the authority of Niue. Most of these are commemorative and collector issues dedicated to historical or general popular culture themes not related to Niue itself. Many of them are in standard bullion sizes, including one ounce of gold (abbreviated as 1 oz Au, where "Au" comes from the Latin word for gold, Aurum). Those issued at prices much higher than their bullion value are separately listed in the Non-Circulating Legal Tender (NCLT) gold ounce section of the site.

Unlike them, this coin is targeted at bullion investors and was initially released at a price close to the value of its precious metal content.

This coin is part of a New Zealand Mint collection of "premium bullion coins" featuring movie characters and themes, and is the third in a series dedicated to the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. The coin's theme is The Empress, a Chinese sailing ship from the 2007 hit Pirates of the Caribbean - At World's End.

Once the flagship of the Chinese pirate lord Sao Feng, after his death The Empress passes into the command of Elizabeth Swann, who was appointed captain by the dying Sao Feng. When Captain Swann later transferred to the Black Pearl for warfare, she left the ship to Tai Huang, Sao Feng's first mate. Unlike European ships, a junk has no keel and the sides are nearly vertical. The triangular to pentagonal sails have bamboo ribs sewn into them, which give the sail special stability and flexibility.