New Zealand fifty-cent coin

Following a 1959 committee, it was agreed in 1963 that New Zealand would use decimal currency. In 1964, the denominations, designs, weights and diameters of the coins were confirmed in the Decimal Currency Act.[2] The decimal dollar replaced the New Zealand pound (pegged to the British pound) at the rate of two dollars per pound, thus a fifty-cent coin would be a continuation of a quarter of a pound. The pre-decimal version of a quarter of a pound was the Crown coin[3] (five shillings) which throughout the British Empire was not widely used (the New Zealand crown was only issued in 1935, 1949 and 1953 with a total of 458,148 specimens[4]). However, the fifty-cent retained the dimensions and composition of the Crown but with a different reverse image.

The original fifty-cent coin which circulated between 1967 and 2006 was made of cupro-nickel. At 31.75 mm (1.25 in) diameter and weighing 13.61 g (0.48 oz) it is the largest coin issued of the dollar.[5] The original included five sections of alternate milling – the current version is plain. From 1967 to 1985 all New Zealand coins featured Arnold Machin's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse. James Berry was selected to design the reverse of all of New Zealand's decimal coins, and his fifty cent design featured HMS Endeavour, the ship on which Captain Cook became the first Briton to reach New Zealand in October 1769. Mount Taranaki is seen in the distance and the legend ENDEAVOUR is written on the bottom. The design remains unchanged to the present day.

New Zealand adopted decimal currency on 10 July 1967 and $5,000,000 worth of fifty-cent coins were issued that year. The large amount meant that no further minting occurred until 1971-the longest wait for a second year of production for any of the original decimal coins.[4]

In 1986 the portrait of the Queen was changed to the version by Raphael Maklouf which had been introduced to the coins of the pound sterling in the previous year.[6] This portrait remained on the obverse until the current version by Ian Rank-Broadley was introduced in 1999. However, no 50-cent coins were minted for the years 1989 to 2000.[4]

In 2006, New Zealand revised its coinage. The fifty-cent coin was altered due to its size being larger than most of the world's coins, and therefore being an inconvenience to the public.[1] In 2004, 51% of the public when asked by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand if they supported reducing size of coins agreed to the changes, and the rate grew to 66% when it was revealed that it would save taxpayers' money.[7] The alloy was changed to nickel-plated steel, which saved 25% of minting costs and the edge was smoothed. The changes were brought about as the fifty cent had once been the pre-decimal crown which had a higher buying power.

The immediate production of the smaller coin was a face value of NZ$35.1 million (70.2 million coins)[8] and entered circulation on 31 July 2006 alongside the larger coin. The larger coin was withdrawn from circulation on 1 November 2006.[1]

After the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022, the Reserve Bank said it would exhaust its existing coin stocks before introducing new coins featuring King Charles III. Based on current stock levels, this would likely be several years away.[9]