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100 Dollars 1975, New Zealand

in Krause book Number: 168b
Years of issue: 1975 - 1977
Edition:
Signatures: Chief Cashier: Mr. R.L. Knight (in office 1973 - 1977)
Serie: Decimal system. The Third Issue
Specimen of: 10.07.1967
Material: Cotton fiber
Size (mm): 155 х 77.5
Printer: TDLR (Thomas de la Rue & Company), London

* All pictures marked magnify are increased partially by magnifying glass, the remaining open in full size by clicking on the image.

** The word "Specimen" is present only on some of electronic pictures, in accordance with banknote images publication rules of appropriate banks.

100 Dollars 1975

Description

Watermark:

watermark

Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 - 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the Royal Navy. Cook made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific Ocean, during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand.

Cook joined the British merchant navy as a teenager and joined the Royal Navy in 1755. He saw action in the Seven Years' War, and subsequently surveyed and mapped much of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River during the siege of Quebec. This helped bring Cook to the attention of the Admiralty and Royal Society. This notice came at a crucial moment in both Cook's career and the direction of British overseas exploration, and led to his commission in 1766 as commander of HM Bark Endeavour for the first of three Pacific voyages.

In three voyages Cook sailed thousands of miles across largely uncharted areas of the globe. He mapped lands from New Zealand to Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean in greater detail and on a scale not previously achieved. As he progressed on his voyages of discovery he surveyed and named features, and recorded islands and coastlines on European maps for the first time. He displayed a combination of seamanship, superior surveying and cartographic skills, physical courage and an ability to lead men in adverse conditions.

Cook was killed in Hawaii in a fight with Hawaiians during his third exploratory voyage in the Pacific in 1779. He left a legacy of scientific and geographical knowledge which was to influence his successors well into the 20th century and numerous memoria worldwide have been dedicated to him.

James Cook

It is possible, that the prototype image of James Cook on the banknote was the work by artist Nathaniel Dance, finished in London on 25 May 1776.

Avers:

100 Dollars 1975

HM The Queen Elizabeth II

HM The Queen Elizabeth II.

This portrait of Her Majesty is adapted from a photograph, taken prior to a Royal Tour of India and Pakistan by Anthony Buckley in October 1960, and it is one of the more widely used images of The Queen.(Peter Symes)

I found this image here "National Portrait Gallery". The portrait on banknote is, probably, taken from this photo session.

Her Majesty is shown wearing Queen Alexandra's Kokoshnik Tiara, the King George VI Festoon Necklace, and Queen Mary's Floret Earrings.

Tiara

The Kokoshnik Tiara, which is sometimes known as the Russian Fringe Tiara, was designed in the style of a Russian peasant girl's headdress. The design of the Kokoshnik tiara was based on a similar tiara, owned by Queen Alexandra's sister, The Empress of Russia. Created by "Garrard", the tiara has sixty-one platinum bars set with 488 diamonds. The tiara was presented to Queen Alexandra, while still a princess, on the occasion of her silver wedding anniversary. It was a gift from three hundred and sixty-five peeresses of the realm. The Festoon Necklace was created from one hundred and five diamonds, at the request of King George VI, from diamonds he inherited on becoming King.

The George VI Festoon Necklace

In 1950, King George VI had a diamond necklace created for his daughter Princess Elizabeth using 105 loose collets that were among the Crown heirlooms he inherited. (These, according to Hugh Roberts, had been used by Queen Mary to change the lengths of her multiple diamond collet necklaces, hence their loose status in the collection.) The end result is this take on a triple strand necklace: three strands of graduated collets suspended between two diamond triangles, with a single collet strand at the back. This is also called simply the Queen’s Festoon Necklace, though I’ll use George VI’s name to be a little more specific.

Even though her collection of diamond necklaces has vastly increased since 1950, this is still a favorite with the Queen and she wears it on a fairly regular basis."From her Majesty's Jewel vault".

Queen Mary's Floret Earrings

These diamond and platinum earrings are another example of the multiple changes Queen Mary made to her jewels. The large central stones are the Mackinnon diamonds, a pair of solitaire earrings that were a wedding gift from Sir William Mackinnon to Mary for her wedding in 1893.

The stones were then set as the center of another pair, Queen Mary's Cluster Earrings. Later on, they were replaced and a new setting was created by Garrard, Queen Mary's Floret Earrings. In their new setting, each one is surrounded by seven slightly smaller diamonds. The earrings were inherited by the Queen on Queen Mary's death in 1953. She wears them for occasions like the State Opening of Parliament, the Garter Day ceremony, and other formal events. "From her Majesty's Jewel vault"

Various geometric patterns used to supply the necessary security and enhance the design. Value of note on top left and bottom right corners with the serial number opposite. Central portion carries the words: “This note is legal tender for....”.

Revers:

100 Dollars 1975

Porphyrio hochstetteri

The takahē (Porphyrio hochstetteri), also known as the South Island takahē or notornis, is a flightless bird indigenous to New Zealand, and the largest living member of the rail family. It was hunted extensively by Māori, but was not named and described by Europeans until 1847, and then only from fossil bones. In 1850 a living bird was captured, and three more collected in the XIX century. After the final bird was captured in 1898, and no more were to be found, the species was presumed extinct. Fifty years later, however, after a carefully planned search, takahē were dramatically rediscovered in 1948 by Geoffrey Orbell in an isolated valley in the South Island's Murchison Mountains. The species is now managed by the New Zealand Department of Conservation, whose Takahē Recovery Programme maintains populations on several offshore islands as well as Takahē Valley. It has now been reintroduced to a second mainland site in Kahurangi National Park. Although takahē are still a threatened species, their NZTCS status was downgraded in 2016 from Nationally Critical to Nationally Vulnerable. The population is 418 (as of October 2019) and is growing by 10 percent per year.

Anatomist Richard Owen was sent fossil bird bones found in 1847 in South Taranaki on the North Island by collector Walter Mantell, and in 1848 he coined the genus Notornis ("southern bird") for them, naming the new species Notornis mantelli. The bird was presumed by Western science to be another extinct species like the moa.

Two years later, a group of sealers in Dusky Bay, Fiordland, encountered a large bird which they chased with their dogs. "It ran with great speed, and upon being captured uttered loud screams, and fought and struggled violently; it was kept alive three or four days on board the schooner and then killed, and the body roasted and ate by the crew, each partaking of the dainty, which was declared to be delicious." Walter Mantell happened to meet the sealers, and secured the bird's skin from them. He sent it to his father, palaeontologist Gideon Mantell, who realised this was Notornis, a living bird known only from fossil bones, and presented it in 1850 to a meeting of the Zoological Society of London. A second specimen was sent to Gideon Mantell in 1851, caught by Māori on Secretary Island, Fiordland. (Takahē were well known to Māori, who travelled long distances to hunt them. The bird's name comes from the Māori verb takahi, to stamp or trample.)

Only two more takahē were collected by Europeans in the XIX century. One was caught by a rabbiter's dog on the eastern side of Lake Te Anau in 1879. It was bought by what is now the State Museum of Zoology, Dresden, for £105, and destroyed during the bombing of Dresden in World War II. Another takahē was caught by another dog, also on the shore of Lake Te Anau, on 7 August 1898; the dog, named 'Rough', was owned by musterer Jack Ross. Ross tried to revive the female takahē, but it died, and he delivered it to curator William Benham at Otago Museum. In excellent condition, it was purchased by the New Zealand government for £250 and was put on display; for many years it was the only mounted specimen in New Zealand, and the only takahē on display anywhere in the world.

After 1898, hunters and settlers continued to report sightings of large blue-and-green birds, described as "giant pukakis" (pukekos); one group chased but couldn't catch a bird "the size of a goose, with blue-green feathers and the speed of a racehorse". None of the sightings were authenticated, and the only specimens collected were fossil bones. The takahē was considered extinct.

Celmisia gracilenta

Celmisia (New Zealand aster or New Zealand daisy) is a genus of perennial herbs or subshrubs, in the sunflower family. Most of the species are endemic to New Zealand; several others are endemic to Australia.

Celmisia gracilenta or pekapeka - Tufted, formed of many slender pseudostems. Leaves erect to prostrate, linear, 5 to 10 cm. long, with recurved margins, the upper surface green with a silvery, mottled bronze, grey or blackish pellicle, silky-white beneath. Flowerheads slender, funnel-shaped, to 2 cm. wide, on slender white stems to 20 cm. Widespread in a variety of mountain habitats in both islands. (encyclopaedia.alpinegardensociety.net)

Denominations in numerals are in lower left and top right corners. In words top left.

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