Silver Ounce 2023 Māori, 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 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 bullion coin is inspired by Māori (Maori) culture.

The mint says about it:
The two figures depicted on the reverse are Rangi and Papa - the Sky Father and Earth Mother from which the universe was born, according to Māori beliefs. Their creation myth tells the story of the deep but doomed love between Earth and Sky. Held in each other’s tight embrace, the space between them was home to pitch-black darkness, where lived their 70 children - the gods of the forest, the sea, the winds, and all the forces of nature. The more they grew, the more they hungered for light, until one day with a heavy heart, they decided to rend their parents apart. Each tried their mightiest - to no avail. Then came the god of the forest’s turn - despite Rangi and Papa’s anguished cries, he stood firmly between them and began pushing at them, until finally, he managed to rend the Sky Father and the Earth Mother apart, letting the light flood between them and freely shine upon the world. To this day, Rangi and Papa yearn for each other, separated forever but still deeply in love.

Here, the Sky Father and the Earth Mother are depicted before their tragic separation. Their faces are adorned with the traditional tattoos Māori people are marked with as a rite of passage - men on their faces and some parts of the body, and women on their chins. The design is based on the typical Māori woodcarving style through which this culture has been expressing its legends and beliefs for centuries - and the texture of the wood has been recreated with an all-matt finish.