Lunar Year of the Rat

About the Design

The New Zealand Mint is proud to announce our coloured coin issue celebrating the Lunar New Year. This coin illustrates a very cute and friendly image of a rat to represent the Year of the Rat.

Being the first sign of the Chinese zodiac, rats are leaders, pioneers and conquerors. They are charming, passionate, charismatic, practical and hardworking. Rat people are endowed with great leadership skills and are perhaps the most organized and systematic of the twelve signs. Intelligent and cunning at the same time, rats are highly ambitious and strong willed people who are keen and unapologetic promoters of their own agendas, which often include money and power. They are energetic and versatile and can usually find their way around obstacles, and adapt to various elements easily.

Traditionally Rats should avoid Horses, but they can usually find their best friends and love interests in Monkeys, Oxen, and Dragons.

Lunar years of the Rat

1912, 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008

Obverse

The obverse of the coin features the Raphael Maklouf effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, sovereign of Pitcairn Island.

Reverse 

The reverse features a painting of a golden coloured rat, with the inscriptions Year of the Rat and the year 2008 in both English and Chinese.

Limited Mintage

The Lunar Year of the Rat coin is struck from 1oz of pure silver. No more than 30,000 of each coin will be issued by the New Zealand Mint. The coins are legal tender of the Government of the Pitcairn Island.

Packaging

Each 1oz Silver coin comes with an individually numbered Certificate of Authenticity issued by New Zealand Mint.

* Please note the Rat coins come packaged in a plain white outer box.