1 Pa'anga - Taufa'ahau Tupou IV Christmas

Taufa'ahau Tupou IV commissioned a series of commemorative circulation issues through the 1970s and 1980s that made Tonga briefly notorious among collectors for unconventional shapes and themes — the Christmas pa'anga being among the more straightforward of the lot, which is itself saying something. The king held near-absolute authority over monetary policy and took a personal interest in coinage as both revenue and diplomacy, using limited issues to court foreign collectors and generate hard currency.

KM#77 was struck by the Royal Australian Mint under contract.