Gold Ounce 2022 Star Wars - IG-11, 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 series dedicated to characters and themes from famous movies, and features the assassin droid IG-11 from the Star Wars universe.

In 1977, pop culture changed forever with the introduction of George Lucas' famed series, Star Wars. The worldwide phenomenon expanded to many films, comic books, television series, video games and theme park attractions. Star Wars is currently (as of 2021) the fifth-highest-grossing media franchise of all time. Star Wars has made its way into all mediums of pop culture with a memorable storyline and beloved characters like R2-D2, Darth Vader, Yoda and many more.

IG-11 is an assassin droid that functioned as a bounty hunter at the time of the new galactic republic following the events of Return of the Jedi. IG-11 features in the Mandalorian series on Disney+ as a rival bounty hunter to the main protagonist, the Mandalorian. The two characters meet on a bounty to kill the young Grogu or "Baby Yoda" and work together to take out the Nikto mercenaries guarding him. Upon discovering the target of the bounty, however, the Mandalorian, Din Djarin would destroy IG-11. Later the droid would be reassembled and reprogrammed into a protector rather than a threat for the young padawan.