Chatham Islands - Woytek's Astronomer

Chatham Islands - 8 dollar - 2001 - PNL

The Chatham Islands is an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean about 680 kilometres southeast of New Zealand. It consists of about ten islands within a 40-kilometre radius, the largest of which are Chatham Island and Pitt Island. The Chatham Islands were never really well known until the new millennium was upon us and people realized that the peak of Mount Hakepa on Pitt Island would be the first piece of land to catch the rays of the sun on the first morning of the new millennium. The 'Chatham Islands Note Corporation' (CINC) was formed and prepared an issue of notes to celebrate the occasion (and cash in on the millennium mania of course). So a series of fantasy banknotes was issued which was followed by a second series in 2001.

This second series sparks the interest of this theme blog because of its depiction of a statue. All the notes in this fantasy series show statues by Woytek, a Polish-born sculptor living in Germany. The sculptures are located on Mount Hakepa on Pitt Island and are part of a theme and a message that can be seen on the notes and is ‘Care for each other and our world’. One of those statues is of 'The Astronomer' and is depicted on the notes of 8 and 15 dollar.

Chatham Islands - 15 dollar - 2001 - PNL