1/2 Dollar - Elizabeth II Nefertiti

The Solomon Islands has issued commemorative coinage under its own authority since independence in 1978, but its numismatic program has long been dominated by themed collector pieces with no connection to the islands themselves. This Nefertiti issue is exactly that — a gold-plated piece produced for the European collector market, licensed through a bullion and novelty coin intermediary, bearing the effigy of a British monarch on a coin celebrating an Egyptian queen who died roughly 3,300 years ago.

Nefertiti's modern iconographic dominance traces almost entirely to a single limestone bust excavated at Amarna in 1912 by Ludwig Borchardt's German expedition and controversially removed to Berlin, where it remains in the Neues Museum despite decades of Egyptian repatriation requests.