I picked up this 1940 Half Crown from New Zealand this weekend at a show in Charlotte, NC. I had been looking for a nice example for a couple of years and was pleased to come across this one at a price I thought was fair. The coin was issued to mark the centennial of New Zealand as a British colony vs. the 100th anniversary of its settlement. The islands of New Zealand had been settled centuries before the British and aboriginal Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. The treaty established British sovereignty over the islands. The coin’s obverse features the Thomas Humphrey Paget portrait of King George VI. The commemorative reverse design features a Māori woman in traditional dress standing in the foreground with a Māori village scene in the background on the viewer’s left and a modern skyline at the right. A shining sun surmounts all. Noted New Zealand artist Leonard Cornwall Mitchell was responsible for the design. I find the art deco style of the coin’s design to be very attractive. The coin is 0.500 fine silver, with a weight of 14.14 grams and a diameter of 32 mm; it has a reeded edge. The coin has very nice cartwheel luster and generally clean surfaces. This doesn’t come across in the images I’ve included as they were created via my scanner. It’s bright light washes out coins and doesn’t capture their true luster. Fortunately – for me – the actual coin is much nicer than it looks in my scans!
