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 characters and themes from popular culture.
This coin is part of the Fairy Tales series by the Lithuanian Mint, and features Cinderella.
The mint says about it:
The reverse of the coin depicts the heroine of the well-known fairy tale during a magical moment - at midnight, when the striking of the clock signaled an imminent change. One side of the image depicts her as a graceful princess rushing out of the ball in a puffy pink dress, her head adorned with a diadem of genuine Swarovski crystals, while on the other side she is Cinderella, who has seen a lot of trouble in her life, with kitchen pots and mice to keep her company. Both of the princess’s slippers are embellished with Swarovski crystals, too.
It is the midnight moment - the transformation of a posh beauty into an ordinary girl - that is still very relevant nowadays. Symbolically, the artist has placed daisies (the sign of pure love) and the metaphor of universal freedom - the dove - on the "gray" side, as if to emphasise that fundamental values always win out over material things. Moreover, Cinderella herself is also a symbol - after all, her name derives from French, meaning little ashes, which in turn are an allegory of diligence, humility and sincerity. |
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The obverse of the coin features the official Public Seal of Niue.
It has an inner circle of hiapo designs, representing the fonua (land), within which are stylised designs of a tree, representing life and tagata Niue (the people of Niue), surrounded by an outer circle in the form of a traditional Niuean garland of 14 seashells (representing the 14 villages of Niue), and crowned with St Edward's Crown (of the United Kingdom), representing the sovereign as head of state.
Around above between the two circles, the inscription PUBLIC SEAL OF NIUE. Below, a ribbon carries the motto ATUA NIUE TUKULAGI on two lines (meaning "God, Niue Eternally"), below which two crossed katoua (Niue fighting clubs).
Around above, the face value ONE DOLLAR. Around below, the date of issue 2023.
The seal is surrounded by a wide rim decorated with pumpkins, which play an important part in the fairy tale of Cinderella.
In the left field, the mint mark of the Lithuanian Mint: the letters LMK arranged one over the other within a circle (with the K below tilted on its side); the abbreviation stands for Lietuvos monetų kalykla - the mint's name in Lithuanian.
In the right field, the hallmark Ag 999 (99.9% silver). |
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