Title:
2019 NZ Annual Commemorative - North Island Takahe Silver Proof Coin
Description:
There is one reference to a possible European sighting of a mōho. It was reported that in 1894 a surveyor captured a large, unfamiliar blue bird in the northern Ruahine Range, causing great excitement among Māori elders who were shown the skin. This specimen has not survived, but it is tentatively regarded as having been a North Island takahē.
Highlights
Low worldwide mintage of 1,500
Designed by renowned NZ artist Dave Burke
$5 denomination
Minted from 0.999 silver.
Design
This stunning 1oz silver proof coin was designed by New Zealand artist Dave Burke. The extinct North Island takahē is imagined here with the plumage of its South Island counterpart. The takahē is encircled by unique koru designs, layered to make the bird’s beak visually protrude from the flat surface.
The North Island takahē, or mōho, is an extinct rail first identified by bones found in the North Island of New Zealand in the mid-19th century. The European discovery of the mōho is intertwined with that of the South Island takahe, which until the 1990s was assumed to be a close relative.
In 1848, bones of an unrecognised bind were collected by Walter Mantell nean the mouth of the Waingongoro River, South Taranaki. A year atter the North Island takahe was named, Mantell came across what is now known as the South Island takahē. A few specimens were collected in the next few decades, but the rarely sighted bird was eventually presumed to be extinct.
The South Island takahē was widely accepted to be a direct relative of the mōho, even after its astonishing rediscovery by Dr Geoffrey Orbell in 1948. It was the re-examination of the relationship between the two takahē, by Steve Trewick in 1996, that led to the acceptance of the North Island takahē as a distinct species.
Trewick postulated that the two takahē specles and pūkeko were independently derived from a swamphen ancestor, rather than the two takahē being each other’s closest relative. Although simitar in shape to the pūkeko (a distinctive swamphen found throughout New Zealand), the North Island takahē was taller and approximately triple the size. Fossil records indicate that the North Island takahē once roamed grasstand, scrub and forest from Wairarapa to the Far North.
There is one reference to a possible European signting of a mōho. It was reported that in 1894 a surveyor captured a large, unfamiliar blue bird in the northern Ruahine Range, causing great excitement among Māori elders who were shown the skin. This specien has not survived, but it is tentatively regarded as having been a North Island takahē.
The coin is also available with vivid colour printing on the takahē, as part of the 2019 New Zealand Proof Currency Set.
Highlights
Low worldwide mintage of 1,500
Designed by renowned NZ artist Dave Burke
$5 denomination
Minted from 0.999 silver.
Design
This stunning 1oz silver proof coin was designed by New Zealand artist Dave Burke. The extinct North Island takahē is imagined here with the plumage of its South Island counterpart. The takahē is encircled by unique koru designs, layered to make the bird’s beak visually protrude from the flat surface.
The North Island takahē, or mōho, is an extinct rail first identified by bones found in the North Island of New Zealand in the mid-19th century. The European discovery of the mōho is intertwined with that of the South Island takahe, which until the 1990s was assumed to be a close relative.
In 1848, bones of an unrecognised bind were collected by Walter Mantell nean the mouth of the Waingongoro River, South Taranaki. A year atter the North Island takahe was named, Mantell came across what is now known as the South Island takahē. A few specimens were collected in the next few decades, but the rarely sighted bird was eventually presumed to be extinct.
The South Island takahē was widely accepted to be a direct relative of the mōho, even after its astonishing rediscovery by Dr Geoffrey Orbell in 1948. It was the re-examination of the relationship between the two takahē, by Steve Trewick in 1996, that led to the acceptance of the North Island takahē as a distinct species.
Trewick postulated that the two takahē specles and pūkeko were independently derived from a swamphen ancestor, rather than the two takahē being each other’s closest relative. Although simitar in shape to the pūkeko (a distinctive swamphen found throughout New Zealand), the North Island takahē was taller and approximately triple the size. Fossil records indicate that the North Island takahē once roamed grasstand, scrub and forest from Wairarapa to the Far North.
There is one reference to a possible European signting of a mōho. It was reported that in 1894 a surveyor captured a large, unfamiliar blue bird in the northern Ruahine Range, causing great excitement among Māori elders who were shown the skin. This specien has not survived, but it is tentatively regarded as having been a North Island takahē.
The coin is also available with vivid colour printing on the takahē, as part of the 2019 New Zealand Proof Currency Set.
Country:
New Zealand
Year:
2019
Mintage:
0486/1,500
Material:
Silver
Denomination:
$5.00
Weight:
1 oz
Diameter:
40 mm
Edge:
reeded
Designers:
Ian Rank-Broadley
Dave Burke
BH Mayer’s Kunstprägeanstalt GmbH
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Date Added:
2021-06-01 14:51:29
Date Added:
2021-06-01 14:51:29
