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 series dedicated to characters and themes from famous movies, and features the logo of the Rebel Alliance from the Star Wars universe.
Following the collapse of the Galactic Republic into the Galactic Empire, an alliance of star systems rebelled and thus began the Galactic Civil War. As a symbol of that alliance, rebel leaders such as Leia Organa would adopt the starbird or phoenix which had appeared informally in anti-Imperial graffiti, in response to the demise of Galen Marek whose family crest bore the same symbol. Marek, an apprentice to Darth Vader, turned from the Dark side and sacrificed himself to protect the leaders who would go on to found the Rebel Alliance. This symbol would appear on the helmets, starships and other equipment of the alliance. Thanks to the leadership of Leia Organa, Admiral Ackbar, Han Solo, Luke Skywalker and many others the Rebellion would eventually be victorious. |