2012 New Zealand Annual Coin: Fairy Tern Brilliant Uncirculated Currency Set

The 2012 Brilliant uncirculated currency set suits every taste and budget whether you're a coin enthusiast or seeking a memorable gift idea!

Highlights

Complete set of brilliant-uncirculated-quality New Zealand currency coins
The set includes the $5 brilliant uncirculated Fairy Tern coin
Worldwide mintage of 2,000.

Design

The six iconic designs in this brilliant uncirculated currency set are:

New Zealand Brilliant uncirculated fairy tern coin

The brilliant uncirculated $5 coin has been crafted in copper-nickel to a mintage limit of just 2,000. Featuring the New Zealand fairy tern both as a bird in flight and in its natural nesting habitat.

New Zealand ten cents

The ten cent coin features a Māori carved head or ‘koruru’ with Māori rafter patterns. Koruru are usually mounted on the gables of wharenui (meeting houses) and are referred to as ‘The guardians of the house’.

New Zealand twenty cents

The Māori carving shown on the 20 cent coin is a reproduction of a specific carving of an 18th century Māori warrior leader called Pukaki, who was a rangatira (chief) of the Ngati Whakaue iwi of Te Arawa in the Rotorua district. The carving was made in 1836 and today it can be viewed in the entrance to the Rotorua District Council building. The edging of this coin is distinctive and known
as ‘Spanish flower’.

New Zealand fifty cents
The design on the 50 cent coin shows the Endeavour sailing south with Mount Taranaki (Egmont) in the distance. The Endeavour was a British Royal Navy research vessel commanded by Lieutenant James Cook on his first voyage of discovery, to Australia and New Zealand from 1769 to 1771.

New Zealand one dollar

New Zealand’s national bird and beloved icon, the kiwi, appears on the $1 coin. This small, flightless bird has been in New Zealand for more than 60 million years, and is largely nocturnal. It has become so much a part of New Zealand’s national identity that New Zealanders overseas (and at home) colloquially refer to themselves as ‘Kiwis’.

New Zealand two dollars

The kotuku (white heron) is shown on the $2 coin. It is one of New Zealand’s rarest birds and is held in particularly high regard in Māori mythology. Kotuku have figured prominently in Māori legend as exemplars of rarity, grace and beauty, and as inhabitants of the spirit world.