1 Dollar - Elizabeth II Frédéric Chopin

Tuvalu's numismatic program has long operated as a revenue mechanism — the island nation's actual currency needs are minimal, and commemorative silver issues like this one are produced almost entirely for export to collector markets. The Chopin subject places this coin within a broader wave of Polish cultural commemoratives issued globally around 2010, the bicentenary of the composer's birth, with mints and licensing bodies worldwide rushing to capitalize on the anniversary.

Chopin died in Paris in 1849, and the question of where his remains belonged provoked immediate dispute — his body was buried in France, but his heart was removed and interred in Warsaw.