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 a tenth ounce of gold (abbreviated as 1/10 oz Au, where "Au" comes from the Latin word for gold, Aurum).
This coin was issued as part of a set of four gold coins featuring the Rohan noble family and is dedicated to Louis René de Rohan.
The Rohan family were French aristocrats exiled by the French Revolution who decided to stay in the Austrian Empire. They purchased the Sychrov Castle in what is now the Czech Republic and owned it for 125 years until it was nationalised by the Socialist government in 1945.
Louis René Édouard de Rohan, known as Cardinal de Rohan (25 September 1734 - 16 February 1803), prince de Rohan-Guéméné, was a French bishop of Strasbourg, politician, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, and cadet of the Rohan family (which traced its origin to the kings of Brittany). |