Coins of the New Zealand dollar
Coins of the pound tended to follow the size, weight, and composition of their British counterparts.
The main coins in usage were the halfpenny (1⁄2d), penny (1d), threepence (3d), sixpence (6d), shilling (1s), florin (2s), and halfcrown (2s 6d).
The initial designs for the reverse sides of the coins introduced in 1967 were rejected by the Royal Mint.
The coins were slowly withdrawn from circulation, before finally being demonetised (no longer legal tender) on 1 May 1990.
Some larger retailers, in the interests of public relations, elected to round the total price down (so that $4.99 became $4.95 instead of $5.00).
The new 20c coins depicted a Māori carving of Pukaki, a chief of the Ngati Whakaue iwi.
In 1999, Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of the Queen was introduced and the legend rearranged to read NEW ZEALAND ELIZABETH II [date].
The reasons given were: After a three-month public submission period that ended on 4 February 2005, the Reserve Bank announced on 31 March that it would go ahead with the proposed changes.
The older 50, 20, 10 and 5c pieces are no longer legal tender, but are still able to be handed in at the Reserve Bank in Wellington, either in person or by post, in exchange for their face value.
Commemorative and collectable coins are available from New Zealand Post as the agent for the Reserve Bank.
It features the standard obverse design but on the reverse it features two soldiers, one New Zealander and one Australian surrounded by two ferns and a mangopare (hammerhead shark) design; with the words "The Spirit of Anzac We Will Remember Them" and "1915–2015" in reference to the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Gallipoli in 1915.
Another example occurred in 2000, with ten known instances of the commemorative $5 coin found in uncirculated sets.
The obverse and reverse dies are correct for the NZ coins; only the blank is the incorrect shape.
According to the Reserve Bank Act 1989, there are limits on the amount that constitutes legal tender:[17] Due to regional travel and the fact that many other former British colonies around the world use coinage systems with British-derived origins of sizing and weight, many Fijian, Samoan, Singaporean, South African, and especially Australian coins had been in daily circulation in New Zealand despite not being official legal tender.
