29 October 2023
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One of the highlights of the Stack’s Bowers auction of Ancient and World Coins on 12–14 September was an excessively rare 1935 New Zealand crown struck to highlight the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi.
Struck at the London mint, the coin features a portrait of King George V as emperor on the obverse, while an image of Maori Chief Tāmati Waka Nene shaking hands with the first governor of New Zealand, William Hobson, above the legend ‘WAITANGI’ and below a crown is featured on the reverse.
This silver coin was not issued as a commemorative coin, being produced after the New Zealand Numismatic Society suggested the government minted a new coin to mark the signing of New Zealand’s founding document in 1840.
The resulting coin was designed by New Zealand artist James Berry and adapted by British artist Percy Metcalfe. The limited minting of uncirculated coins were struck and sold as souvenirs.
The $2800 hammer price of this proof strike of a one-year type was just over its lower estimate of $2500.
SOLD FOR £2,279
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