Gold Ounce 2022 Darth Vader, 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 premium bullion coin is part of a New Zealand Mint series featuring characters and themes from the Star Wars movie saga, and shows Darth Vader.

As young Anakin Skywalker, he initially was the student of the Jedi knight Obi-Wan Kenobi. He was educated to be a Jedi knight before turning to the dark side of the force and taking on the identity of Darth Vader. In a fire, he suffered severe burns and was almost killed. Darth Sidious found him, and as part of a life-saving operation, he was given the black armor, which included the mask with distinctive breath sounds, and cybernetic limbs.