1 Dollar - Elizabeth II Death Adder

Part of a miniature gold wildlife series aimed squarely at the collector market, this piece was issued the same year the Solomon Islands' broader fauna coinage program expanded significantly. The death adder depicted — almost certainly Acanthophis laevis, the species native to the Solomons — is one of the few truly venomous snakes in Melanesia, capable of delivering a potentially fatal neurotoxic bite despite its sluggish appearance.