Fiji's aluminium bronze dollar was introduced as part of a coinage modernization following the country's complicated post-coup constitutional limbo of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The third portrait of Elizabeth II, sculpted by Raphael Maklouf, replaced the earlier Machin effigy across much of the Commonwealth during this period — Fiji adopted it somewhat later than most member states, a delay that likely reflects the uncertainty surrounding the country's status after the 1987 coups under Sitiveni Rabuka briefly severed ties with the Crown.
Fiji's aluminium bronze dollar was introduced as part of a coinage modernization following the country's complicated post-coup constitutional limbo of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The third portrait of Elizabeth II, sculpted by Raphael Maklouf, replaced the earlier Machin effigy across much of the Commonwealth during this period — Fiji adopted it somewhat later than most member states, a delay that likely reflects the uncertainty surrounding the country's status after the 1987 coups under Sitiveni Rabuka briefly severed ties with the Crown.