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, including this very large three ounces of gold format (abbreviated as 3 oz Au, where "Au" comes from the Latin word for gold, Aurum).
This coin is the first in a series dedicated to the famous Fabergé eggs, and depicts the Lilies of the Valley Egg made in 1898.
A Fabergé egg (Russian: Яйца Фаберже́) is a jewelled egg created by the House of Fabergé, in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire. Possibly as many as sixty-nine were created, of which fifty-seven survive today. Virtually all were manufactured under the supervision of Peter Carl Fabergé between 1885 and 1917, the most famous being the fifty-two "Imperial" eggs, forty-six of which survive, made for the Russian Tsars Alexander III and Nicholas II as Easter gifts for their wives and mothers. Thanks to the exuberance, intricacy and splendour of decoration, Fabergé Eggs have gained a huge popularity as jewellery masterpieces.
The Lilies of the Valley Egg was made under the supervision of Peter Carl Fabergé in 1898 by Fabergé ateliers. The supervising goldsmith was Michael Perchin. The egg is one of the two eggs in the Art Nouveau style. It was presented on April 5 to Tsar Nicholas II, who gave it as a gift to the Tsaritsa, Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna. The egg is now part of the Victor Vekselberg Collection, owned by The Link of Times Foundation and housed in the Fabergé Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
The egg is covered in pearls and topped with rose pink enamel on a guilloche field. The egg is supported by cabriolet legs of green-gold leaves with rose-cut diamond dewdrops. The gold-stemmed lilies have green enamelled leaves and flowers made of gold set with rubies, pearls, and diamonds. Instead of a "surprise" when the egg is opened, this egg's surprise is elevated out of the egg by twisting a gold-mounted pearl button. When fully raised, three portraits are visible under the Imperial crown set with a ruby: Tsar Nicholas II and his two oldest daughters, Olga and Tatiana, painted on ivory by Johannes Zehngraf. The portraits are framed in rose diamonds and backed with gold panels engraved with the presentation date of July 31, 1898. |
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The obverse of the coin depicts the crowned mature head of Queen Elizabeth II facing right (her effigy known as the "Fourth Portrait", by Ian Rank-Broadley). The Queen wears the "Girls of Great Britain and Ireland" diamond tiara, a wedding gift from Queen Mary (Her Majesty's grandmother) in 1947 - which she also has on the Machin and the Gottwald portraits. The designer's initials are not shown.
Below the neck truncation and over the I of ELIZABETH, the small MW mint mark of the Mint of Poland (m over W), for Mennica Warszawska (Mint of Warsaw).
The effigy is small and is in the upper half of the design, surrounded by a decorative neo-rococo scroll ornament. Horizontally below, ELIZABETH II. Around above, the rest of the legend: NIUE ISLAND.
The lower half of the design shows an open Fabergé egg - the "Spring Flowers" egg with a miniature basket of wood anemones inside.
Around left, facing outward, the face value and denomination: 100 DOLLARS. Around right, similarly facing out, the date of issue 2011.
Around below right, the hallmark Au 900 (90% gold). |
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