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 coin is dedicated to the 2014 Year of the Horse by the Chinese Lunar Calendar (31 January 2014 - 18 February 2015).
Dedicated to the world-famous Orlovsky trotter, the coin highlights the powerful galloping horse motif on its proof finish reverse decorated with pad printing. The centerpiece of the reverse is an Orlovsky trotter jumping over a golden horseshoe. It is a large, harmoniously built harness horse with a hereditary ability to trot fast. Considered one of the world's most rare horse breeds, the Orlovsky Trotter was developed by crossing Arabian, Danish and other saddle breeds with Western European harness horses. The breeding began in 1775 in the Khrenovskoy stud farm of Alexei Orlov, hence the name. |