Silver Five Ounces 2020 Melbourne Centenary Florin, 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 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. Many of them are in standard bullion sizes - including this very large five ounces of silver format (abbreviated as 5 oz Ag, where "Ag" comes from the Latin word for silver, Argentum).

This large, 65mm diameter coin celebrates the 85th Anniversary of Australia’s iconic art deco 1934-35 Centenary Florin that was originally issued to celebrate the twin centenaries of the founding of Victoria and the settlement of Melbourne.

The 1934-1935 Melbourne Victoria Commemorative Florin is remarkable with several features:
- it is the only double-dated Australian coin,
- the only pre-decimal coin with the legends in English rather than Latin, and
- the only Australian coin to carry Percy Metcalf's obverse portrait of King George V.

While Australia, like the rest of the world, struggled with the Great Depression, a Centenary Council was busy planning the celebrations for two 100th anniversaries. Victoria's first permanent European settlement had occurred in 1834, with the founding of Melbourne soon thereafter in 1835. To help cover costs of the celebrations, a commemorative sterling silver florin would be sold to the public at three shillings apiece.

Upon release, the provocative commemorative design, featuring a naked man on horseback, proved highly controversial. “Perhaps it is appropriate,” mused art committee Chairman Russell Grimwade to the Melbourne newspaper The Argus, “because it looks worth about two shillings.” Despite this, the iconic design by George Kruger Gray is much admired by collectors today, and remains unprecedented in the annals of numismatic design.

Sadly, due to the Great Depression, many would-be buyers simply didn't have three shillings to spare to buy a coin. With sales low, 21,000 coins were melted down, leaving 54,000 of the mintage of 75,000 remaining. As a result, the 1934-35 Centenary Florin is very scarce today, and highly sought-after by collectors.