Centennial half-crown

The Centennial half-crown is a commemorative coin of the New Zealand half-crown released in 1940 to coincide with the hundredth anniversary of the Treaty of Waitangi. A 1938 government-sponsored design competition for the commemorative half-crown, alongside the concurrently released penny and halfpenny, was won by New Zealand artist Leonard Cornwall Mitchell. The coin features a Māori woman surrounded by traditional Māori architecture on her right, a modern cityscape on her left, and a rising sun behind her head. The coin, like other contemporary New Zealand half-crowns, had a diameter of 32 mm and a weight of 14.14 grams, and was struck by the Royal Mint in .500 fineness silver. Unlike the Waitangi crown, the first New Zealand commemorative issue, a large mintage of 100,800 coins was produced and released directly into circulation at face value. However, the popularity of the coin led to it rapidly exiting circulation into private collections.