10 Dollars - Elizabeth II 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Guadalcanal

The Battle of Guadalcanal, fought between August 1942 and February 1943, was the first major Allied offensive in the Pacific Theater and the first time Japanese ground forces were decisively repelled. The six-month campaign cost the U.S. Navy more warships than it had lost at Pearl Harbor, and the island itself became a graveyard for vessels of both sides — a stretch of water still known as Ironbottom Sound.

The Solomon Islands issued several commemorative gold pieces for this anniversary, with KM#42 among the smaller-format strikes in the series.