Silver Ounce 2013 Year of the Snake - Lucky Oval, 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 - typically, one ounce of silver (abbreviated as 1 oz Ag, where "Ag" comes from the Latin word for silver, Argentum). Many of these have a Zodiac-inspired theme.

This coloured silver coin with a special shape ("lucky oval") is part of a commemorative range issued by the New Zealand Mint to mark the Chinese 2013 Year of the Snake (10 February 2013 - 30 January 2014).

The snake is an enduring symbol in Chinese mythology and folklore representing luck, wealth and fortune. The snake ranks sixth of all the animals in the Chinese zodiac and people born within this year are said to possess character traits of intelligence, gracefulness and materialism.