In addition to the coins I mentioned yesterday, we also designed two commemorative stamps as part of our celebration of this year’s significant United States/New Zealand 70th anniversaries. We’ve been using the stamps on our outgoing mail at the Embassy and Consulate General for the past couple of weeks, but I thought I’d share them here (in larger than real-life form) in case we haven’t sent you a letter lately.

As part of celebrating the significant United States/New Zealand 70th anniversaries this year we designed and minted a commemorative coin to be gifted to guests at our Independence Day celebrations in Wellington, Auckland, and Christchurch. The coins debuted yesterday evening at our first such reception, in Wellington’s historic old Town Hall.

Of course, the coins are not legal tender, but they do look great. (The photos don’t quite capture the etched details and the sheen of the metal.) Here are the two sides of the coin, in larger than real-life form:

As you may know, the message on the scroll on the reverse side of the coin comes from a plaque that the U.S. Marines presented to Wellington City Council in thanks and appreciation for the hospitality of the citizens of the region during the war. Still mounted on a sea wall on Aotea Quay, the plaque accurately and succinctly sums up the Marines’ historical and ongoing feelings about New Zealand.