Silver Ounce 2018 British Trade Dollar, 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).

The 2018 1 oz Niue British Trade Dollar Silver Coin is part of a range dedicated to "trade dollars" and is inspired by the British Trade Dollar issued between 1895 and 1935 (also known as a "Hong Kong Dollar").

The Mint says about this coin:
First issued in 1895, the British Trade Dollar weighed approximately 27g and was minted in 0.900 silver to mirror the specification of the Spanish Dollar, the international trade coin of the time. It depicted for the first time a standing figure of Britannia holding a trident and British shield with a merchant ship in the background designed by Royal Mint engraver George William De Saulles. This magnificent coin was to become a symbol of the vast British trade with the Orient.

The need for a coin unrelated to a foreign country’s mint or silver supplies, which could be minted on demand, allowed British merchants to take advantage of the silk, porcelain spice and tea trade in the Orient which flourished at the end of the First Opium War. The British Trade Dollar was just the second coin minted by the British purely for international trade, after the Portcullis Money or Testern silver coin of 1601, issued by Queen Elizabeth I for The East India Companies first voyage to the East.