A pig-like snout and flippers instead of feet: the pig-nosed turtle on the 2009 5 toea looks like a marine animal, yet it lives in the freshwater rivers and lagoons of New Guinea and northern Australia.

It is the last living member of an entire turtle family, and the IUCN lists it as endangered. On the coin the turtle swims right above «5t»; the obverse carries Papua New Guinea’s arms with the bird of paradise, spear and kundu drum.

The 2009 coin is nickel-plated steel, type KM# 3a, which replaced the copper-nickel 5 toea in the early 2000s. The subject, however, has not changed since 1975: the country’s everyday coins are devoted to its wildlife, and the turtle shares the series with the spotted cuscus on the 10 toea, the cassowary on the 20 toea and the crocodiles on the 1 kina.

Grade UNC: no trace of circulation, mint lustre intact, with at most minor bag marks. It suits a reptile topic collection as well as a single-year set of Papua New Guinea’s circulating coins.

This coin is one of the items in the VPcoins catalogue, which brings together commemorative, circulation and bullion coins from around the world.