Design disagreements plagued the production of the crown, and only an extremely small mintage of 1,128 (including 468 proofs) was struck and distributed to collectors.

[8] The New Zealand Numismatic Society served a significant role in the designs of the 1933 coinage series, with several members of the society placed on the Coinage Committee organised by Gordon Coates, organised to wrestle control over the designs from the Royal Mint Advisory Committee and Deputy Master Robert Johnson.

[8] Royal Mint artist George Kruger Gray worked off Coinage Committee proposals during the later stages of the design process.

[10] The government was receptive to the proposal, and informed the Numismatic Society in January 1934, of their intention to produce such a coin to commemorate the Treaty of Waitangi.

Allan Sutherland and Society president John Rankine Brown disapproved of the choice of subject matter, believing the upcoming 1940 centenary of the treaty more appropriate for such commemoration.

[9] Finance Minister Gordon Coates publicly announced the coin in the Auckland Star on February 7, following the first official Waitangi Day celebrations.

This announcement described an earlier version of the design, featuring several missionaries (including Reverend Henry Williams) alongside Nene and Hobson.

Another design by Berry was later modeled in plaster by Kruger Gray, showing a handshake between Hobson and Wāka Nene, with a misspelled "‘Witangi" above the motif.

The design featured a cloaked Wāka Nene, wearing and holding a taiaha, shaking hands with William Hobson beneath a royal crown.

Some small suggestions, mainly regarding Hobson's uniform, were offered to Metcalfe by the Royal Mint, but work on the design was halted by Gordon Coates in early September 1934.

His second model, dated 1934, resolved several of the issues, replacing Nene's cloak with the piupiu, refining his limbs, and adjusting the rendering of Hobson's trousers.

A frustrated Robert Johnson replied to another member of the Coinage Committee "I have no idea […] in what way the limbs and size of Maori hands differ from those of ordinary human beings.

"[10] Metcalfe, being scheduled to visit Iraq to model King Ghazi's image for local coinage, hurried over the following few weeks a remodel of the coin.

Chief Nene's piupiu was raised to end at his knees, his legs were remodeled, and the crown was increased in size as a compromise between earlier revisions.

Such prices were high during the waning years of the Great Depression, and numismatics remained a relatively niche hobby in New Zealand during the period.

[15] A Waitangi pattern featuring the smaller crown design, graded MS64 by NGC,[16] sold for US$72,000 in a 2021 Heritage auction, becoming the most expensive New Zealand coin.