| Coin | One Dollar Silver 2012 Fabergé - Coronation Egg |
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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, bullion and collector coins under the authority of Niue. These coins are dedicated to historical or general popular culture themes not related to Niue itself.
Some coins are marketed in standard bullion sizes, like half ounce silver, one ounce silver etc, and some of those are also denominated as $1, for which see respective lists. This coin, denominated as One Niue Dollar, is not in a standard ounce-based size and is made using a "smartminting" technique - meaning that it has features not generally found in circulation coins.
This coin is the first in a series of one-dollar coins dedicated to the famous Fabergé eggs, and depicts the Imperial Coronation egg made in 1897.
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 coin is in Proof quality, with stone inserts. It comes boxed, with a Certificate of Authenticity. |
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| Obverse | |
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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: 1 DOLLAR. Around right, similarly facing out, the date of issue 2012.
Around below right, the hallmark Ag 925 (92.5% silver, also known as Sterling Silver; "Ag" is abbreviated from Argentum, the Latin word for silver, and is internationally used to mark silver coins and jewellery). |
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| Reverse | |
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Within a beaded border and a decorative motif below, the reverse of the coin shows the Imperial Coronation egg made under the supervision of the Russian jeweller Peter Carl Fabergé in 1897 by Fabergé ateliers, Mikhail Perkhin and Henrik Wigstrom. The egg was made to commemorate Tsarina, Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna, wife of Russian Emperor Nicholas II. Its guilloché field of starbursts is in reference to the cloth-of-gold robe worn by the Tsarina at her Coronation.
Shown in the foreground is the precise replica, less than four inches long, of the 18th-century Imperial coach that carried the Tsarina Alexandra to her coronation at Moscow's Uspensky sobor (Dormition Cathedral) on 15 May 1896. It fitted inside a velvet-lined compartment within the egg.
Around left, the inscription IMPERIAL. Around right, FABERGÉ EGGS.
The reverse is embellished with three coloured Swarovski crystals. |
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| Reverse Inscription |
IMPERIAL FABERGÉ EGGS |
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| Edge | Plain | Edge Inscription | None |
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| Included in Set |
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Imperial Fabergé Egg Series Proof Silver Set, mintage unknown, limited to 9,999
9 coins: Coronation Egg, Rosebud Egg, Swan Egg, Cockerel Egg, Lily Bouquet Egg, Winter Egg, Order of St George Egg, Napoleonic Egg, Kremlin Egg
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