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 the fifth release in the New Zealand Mint's DC Comics Bullion Coins Series series dedicated to DC Comics characters and themes, and features The Flash.
Since the introduction of the comic hero The Flash in 1940, he has been embodied by different characters. One incarnation of The Flash is Barry Allen, who developed his supernatural powers after being struck by lightning in a laboratory accident. Since then, the superhero has been able to reach superhuman speeds - this applies to his physical locomotion on the one hand, but on the other hand his thought processes are also exceptionally fast. After his brother is murdered by a motorcycle gang, The Flash takes up the fight against the crime in Central City. Among his most famous opponents are Captain Cold, Mirror Master and the Trickster. The Flash is a founding member of the Justice League together with Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Superman, Green Lantern, Batman and Martian Manhunter. |