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 feature famous movie characters.
This gift coins dedicated to the Lunar Year of the Mouse by the Chinese calendar features the Minions, characters from Despicable Me. The adventures of Gru, Daughters Margo, Edith and Agnes, and the unpredictable Minions have embraced by audience across the globe.
Despicable Me (2010) was produced by Illumination Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures. Later acquired by Illumination, the film was animated by the French animation studio Mac Guff. Released theatrically in July 2010, Despicable Me launched the Despicable Me franchise series of films, including the sequel Despicable Me 2 (2013), a Minion Christmas mini-movie called Santa’s Little Helpers (2019), another sequel, Despicable Me 3 (2017), and two prequels; Minions (2015) and Minions: The Rise of Gru (2021), both of which feature Gru’s Minions as the main characters.
The coin is in Proof grade, in gift-card packaging. |
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The coin’s reverse features an officially licensed stylised Chinese Lunar image of Minion - a character from Despicable Me movies, in colourised detail. The Minion looks like a mouse, and holds a mouse in its raised right hand. It holds a scroll inscribed with the Chinese character for mouse, 鼠.
Around above, the inscription: YEAR OF THE MOUSE. Around below, the date of issue 2020.
Around below right, facing out, the copyright acknowledgement TM & © UNI. and the precious metal content: 1 oz 999 PURE SILVER.
The border around the rim is decorated with Oriental motifs. |
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