This crown-sized dollar coin commemorates the flightless Takahe bird which can only be found in New Zealand. They are the size of a large chicken, have blue and green feathers and a red bill. Takahes eat tender grass stalks, bugs and fern roots. By the 1900s, people believed these birds were extinct.

This coin included the new, modified portrait of HM The Queen by Reginald George James Berry which was incorporated on New Zealand commemorative large dollar coins from 1979 to 1982. The design was unique to New Zealand and depicted the Queen wearing the Russian Fringe Tiara, which was originally given by the "Ladies in Society" to Queen Alexandra on her Silver Wedding anniversary in 1888. Berry completed more than 1,000 stamp and coin designs in his lifetime.