{"product_id":"1998-new-zealand-5-cents-tuatara-elizabeth-ii-ef","title":"1998 New Zealand 5 Cents — Elizabeth II \/ Tuatara — Living Fossil — Copper-Nickel — EF","description":"\u003cp\u003e🌍 Pinched from a handful of change at a Wellington corner dairy, this five-cent coin carried the portrait of the oldest living design in New Zealand — not the queen, but the reptile on the other side, whose lineage predates the dinosaurs by thirty million years.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThis 1998 New Zealand 5 cents features the tuatara — Sphenodon punctatus — rendered by James Berry in a design that has appeared on the denomination since 1967. The tuatara is not a lizard, despite looking like one. It is the sole surviving member of the order Sphenodontia, a lineage that dates back roughly two hundred million years to the breakup of the supercontinent Pangaea. Every other species in its order is extinct. The tuatara survived by reaching New Zealand before mammals did.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThe obverse carries Raphael Maklouf's crowned portrait of Elizabeth II — the third royal portrait used on New Zealand coinage, and 1998 is its final year. In 1999, Ian Rank-Broadley's fourth portrait replaced it. The denomination itself would be eliminated entirely in 2006, and many of these coins were melted down after demonetization.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e💡 Everyday Life at the Time\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 1998, five cents was already marginal — enough to round out a transaction but not enough to buy anything independently. New Zealand was in the middle of a period of relative economic stability after the turbulence of Rogernomics. The internet was arriving in homes across the country, and the Lord of the Rings films were in pre-production in Wellington, about to transform the national economy in ways no one fully anticipated.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e📜 Historical Context\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe tuatara's presence on New Zealand currency was a deliberate statement about conservation and national identity. The species has been fully protected by an Act of Parliament since 1895, and its survival on a handful of offshore islands makes it one of the most geographically restricted reptiles on Earth. In Māori tradition, tuatara are regarded as taonga — treasured possessions — and are associated with Whiro, the god of death and disaster. They were considered ariki, or god forms, and Māori women were forbidden to eat them.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eJames Berry chose to depict the tuatara in its characteristic posture: head raised, body alert, perched on rock. The design replaced the pre-decimal sixpence, inheriting its exact dimensions — same diameter, same weight, same metal. When New Zealand eliminated the five-cent denomination in 2006, the tuatara lost its place on circulating currency. It remains one of the most scientifically remarkable creatures ever depicted on a coin anywhere in the world.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e🧾 Coin Details\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCountry: New Zealand\u003cbr\u003eDenomination: 5 Cents\u003cbr\u003eYear: 1998\u003cbr\u003eGovernment: Realm of New Zealand (Elizabeth II)\u003cbr\u003eComposition: Copper-nickel\u003cbr\u003eWeight: 2.83 g\u003cbr\u003eDiameter: 19.43 mm\u003cbr\u003eThickness: 1.3 mm\u003cbr\u003eMintage: Circulation strike (last year of Maklouf portrait on this denomination)\u003cbr\u003eCondition: EF — sharp detail across both faces; the tuatara's individual scales, clawed feet, and raised dorsal crest are crisply defined; Elizabeth II's crown and hair detail fully legible; minimal wear on the highest points\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eAt under three grams and just over nineteen millimeters, this coin sits in the hand like a small, cool disc — lighter than the ten-cent piece but with the same silvery copper-nickel tone. The tuatara fills the reverse almost entirely, its body curving across the field with a textural density that rewards examination. The scales are individually rendered, the eye is alert, and the distinctive crest along the spine catches light in a way that makes the reptile look ready to move.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐ Why This Coin Is a Great Collectible\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e• Features the tuatara — the sole surviving member of an order dating back 200 million years, older than the dinosaurs\u003cbr\u003e• Not a lizard: the tuatara belongs to the order Sphenodontia, every other member of which is extinct\u003cbr\u003e• Last year of the Raphael Maklouf portrait on New Zealand five-cent coins — a portrait boundary year\u003cbr\u003e• The five-cent denomination was eliminated entirely in 2006 and many coins were melted — a dead denomination carrying a living fossil\u003cbr\u003e• Protected by an Act of Parliament since 1895 — one of the first species protection laws in the world\u003cbr\u003e• Regarded as taonga (treasured possession) and ariki (god form) in Māori tradition\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e💡 Collector Tip\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOnce you learn that the tuatara is not a lizard but something far older, you start looking at every wildlife coin differently — asking not just what the animal is but where it sits in the history of life on Earth. The kind of collector who reads a coin's reverse as a statement about what a country values enough to put on its money is the kind who notices that New Zealand chose a two-hundred-million-year-old reptile for its smallest silver-colored denomination. Several nations put endangered or endemic species on their coinage, and comparing which animals each country selected tells you something no encyclopedia entry captures.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eYou will receive the exact coin shown in these photographs. All coins are authentic and unaltered — we don't enhance patina or touch up surfaces. Grades are conservative; circulated pieces show honest wear from actual use, not damage or mishandling. Carefully packaged. Ships promptly with tracking.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThe tuatara outlived every other species in its order. It outlived the dinosaurs. It did not outlive the five-cent coin — because the coin went first.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WadesCoinShop","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48011016044758,"sku":"S-OCN-NZLD-5CT-1998","price":0.89,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0811\/4939\/5158\/files\/20260329_171639.jpg?v=1774825336","url":"https:\/\/wadescoinshop.myshopify.com\/products\/1998-new-zealand-5-cents-tuatara-elizabeth-ii-ef","provider":"WadesCoinShop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}