Waitangi crown

Waitangi crown

New Zealand
Value	5/— (5 shillings, or ¼ £NZ)
Mass	28.27 g
Diameter	38.61 mm
Edge	Milled
Shape	Round
Composition	50% Ag
Years of minting	1935
Mintage	1,128 (including 468 proofs)
Obverse
Design	Crowned bust of George V
Designer	Percy Metcalfe
Reverse
Design	Handshake between Tāmati Wāka Nene and William Hobson
Designer	Percy Metcalfe

The Waitangi crown is a commemorative crown coin struck in 1935 by the British Royal Mint for the Dominion of New Zealand to commemorate the 1840 signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, often seen as New Zealand's founding constitutional document. It was the first five-shilling piece minted of the New Zealand pound and the nation's first coin minted primarily for collectors. Following the rejection of designs by James Berry and George Kruger Gray, Royal Mint designer Percy Metcalfe (who had also designed the bust of George V on the coin's obverse) was commissioned to design the reverse. Design disagreements plagued the production of the crown, and only an extremely small mintage of 1,128 (including 468 proofs) was struck and distributed to collectors. Released to muted media coverage and a general lack of interest in coin collecting during the economic aftermath of the Great Depression, the coin has become heavily sought by collectors of New Zealand coinage. Regularly selling for thousands of dollars, one pattern issue of the coin auctioned at over $70,000 USD, becoming the most expensive New Zealand coin ever sold.