New Zealand is one country that I have always wanted to visit but just haven't had a chance to make it there quite yet. I'm hoping one of these days I can make it happen. But the next best thing to actually travelling there is a nice silver coin from the destination I suppose. I picked up this coins some years ago at a local coin shop because it's an animal coin which I always love and of course it's silver which is awesome too!
Have a look:
About the coin:
From numista.com
This is an older coin made ninety years ago but it has held up well, I don't think I'll be around anywhere near that long! Although it's only made with fifty percent silver it's still a great coin. Probably not the best for stacking but picking up an entire series of these wouldn't be too hard since they were only produced from 1933 until 1936. An interesting fact is this was made in the Royal Mint in London. Apparently all coins for circulation in New Zealand are produced either in the UK or Canada, something I did not know until today!
The Kiwi Bird
youtube.com
The star of the show today is what's on the reverse of the coin, the kiwi bird. The kiwi is a flightless bird that only lives in New Zealand. There are five species of them all living on the island nation. They are about the size of a typical chicken but have a long bill with nostrils on it near the tip. They depend on their keen sense of smell in order to find it's prey, in fact they can smell their prey underground before even sticking their bill into the soil. The live on grubs, worms, and some fruits. They do not rely on their eyes much and blind individuals seem to fare just as well as those with intact eyesight.
They are monogamous and mate with the same bird for life. The female lays an very large egg about six times the size of a chicken egg once a year and the male incubates it in most of the species. All but one of the species are considered threatened due to introduction of predators like wild dogs, cats, and the stoat (a predator introduced to control the rabbit population but has over run native species.)
They are cute little birds don't you think? They are the icon of New Zealand and sanctuaries have been created to protect them from predation.
That will do it for today, I hope you enjoyed the silver coin and a bit about the kiwi bird. If you have any questions, suggestions, or comments please feel free to leave them below. Thanks for stopping by!
And my disclaimer:
Gold and silver collecting and stacking can be a fun hobby but isn't for everyone. You can lose money. I'm not a financial advisor and this isn't financial advice, please always do your own research before spending your hard earned money.
All pictures are mine unless otherwise noted.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiwi_(bird)
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces4016.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoat
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