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 coins under the authority of Niue. Most of these are commemorative and collector issues 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). Those issued at prices much higher than their bullion value are separately listed in the Non-Circulating Legal Tender (NCLT) silver ounce section of the site.
Unlike them, this coin is targeted at bullion investors and was initially released at a price close to the value of its precious metal content.
This coin is part of a New Zealand Mint collection of "premium bullion coins" featuring movie characters and themes, and is the fifth and final in a series dedicated to the 30th anniversary of Disney's Aladdin.
The Mint says about it: On 11 November 1992, Disney released Aladdin to theatres worldwide. The musical film would be the first animated feature to generate over half a billion in box office sales and become the highest-grossing animated film of all time before the release of The Lion King. Aladdin's delightful take on an Arab folktale combined with humour and catchy tunes made the film a treasure of entertainment. The song "A Whole New World" would win a Grammy for Song of the Year.
The titular character Aladdin begins as a lowly "street rat" of the desert city of Agrabah where he unwittingly gets drawn into a plot of the scheming royal vizier, Jafar. He had intended to use Aladdin to gain entry into the Cave of Wonders to obtain the magical lamp of the Genie. Aladdin's monkey Abu can't resist the forbidden treasures, which leads to dire consequences, but not before Aladdin is able to retrieve the magic lamp. Jafar, still disguised as an old man, demands that Aladdin throw him the lamp before he'll help him out of the collapsing Cave of Wonders.
He then betrays Aladdin to his doom while keeping the lamp. Yet, unbeknownst to him, Abu stole it back. Within the darkness of the cave, Aladdin inadvertently wakes the Genie who brings the zany antics and manic energy of his voice actor Robin Williams into the duration of the film. The movie then proceeds to become a romance as Aladdin uses the Genie's powers to endear himself to the lovely princess Jasmine. In the process, he will eventually uncover Jafar's plot for power and use his wits to save the day. |