This 1oz silver proof coin depicts New Zealand's darkest day at Passchendaele, and features two soldiers paying their respects to a fallen comrade at one of many makeshift graves
12 October 1917 was the deadliest day in New Zealand’s military history. The failed attempt to capture the Belgian village of Passchendaele resulted in 3,700 New Zealand casualties, including 845 killed. The failed offensive saw many of the casualties buried in unmarked graves. After the war the Tyne Cot Cemetery was built to memorialise these fallen troops close to where they had perished, along with other sites at Buttes, Polygon Wood and Messines. This coin depicts two soldiers paying their respects to a fallen comrade at a makeshift grave, with the desolation of the landscape in the background.
Features:
- NZ Post is the official issuer of commemorative coins on behalf of the RBNZ
- Collectable coin commemorating New Zealand's involvement in the First World War in 1917
- Coin comes in a pressed metal tin, made to resemble those gifted to soldiers in WWI
- Depicts the darkest day in New Zealand’s military history – 12 October 1917
- The foreground of the coin shows soldiers by a makeshift grave
- Limited worldwide mintage of 2,500
Specifications:
- Denomination: $1 NZD
- Obverse Design: Portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II by Ian Rank-Broadley
- Reverse Design: Two soldiers at Passchendaele
- Mint: Royal Australian Mint
- Mintage Limit: 2,500 (Worldwide)
- Composition: 0.999 silver
- Finish: Proof
- Edge: Milled
- Shape: Round
- Diameter: 40mm
- Weight: 1.oz