History of Chatham Islands Numismatics

The history of Chatham Islands numismatics begins in 1999, when the Reserve Bank of New Zealand authorized a private organization, the Chatham Islands Note Corporation, to issue banknotes to celebrate that the Chatham Islands would have been the first land to enter the third millennium (although this is not actually true — this honour belongs to Antarctica. The first island to enter the third millennium would be Millennium Island).

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand gave this authorization under the condition that such notes cannot be declared legal tender. In other words, these notes were to be used for payment, but only if the seller accepted them: there was no obligation for anyone to accept the notes issued by the Chatham Islands, contrarily to the notes issued by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. These Chatham Islands notes were generally accepted by merchants on the Chatham Islands.

The Chatham Islands Note Corporation was initially based in Christchurch, in the South Island of New Zealand. The agent for providing the notes to the numismatic trade was Leon Morel, FRNSNZ of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia). The Chatham Islands Note Corporation later shifted their base of operations to Waitangi, Chatham Islands.

The Chatham Islands dollar (Ch.I.$) was pegged at the same rate as the New Zealand dollar.