Silver Five Ounces 2022 Star Wars - Sandcrawler, 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 coin is part of a New Zealand Mint series featuring characters and themes from the Star Wars movie saga, and shows the Sandcrawler fighting machine.

The Sandcrawler is an approximately 20 meter tall and very massive vehicle that was originally designed as a mining and smelting facility. It later served as a mobile fortress for the nomadic Jawas on the desert planets of Tatooine and Arvala-7, providing them with transportation and shelter. The exceptionally robust facility features a magnetic suction tube that can be used to suck droids and scrap metal directly into the cargo hold. In addition to spacious cargo holds, the Sandcrawler also has scrap processing facilities and enough room to house an entire Jawa clan. First appearing in the 1977 film "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope", Sandcrawlers were in use on Tatooine during the Clone Wars and Galactic Civil War. Anakin Skywalker, who encountered a sand crawler convoy shortly before the First Battle of Geonosis, received assistance from the Jawas who operated the crawlers in his quest to find his way to the Tusken Raiders who had abducted his mother.