10 Dollars - Elizabeth II Battle of the Coral Sea

The Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942 was the first naval engagement in history fought entirely by carrier-based aircraft — the opposing surface fleets never came within sight of each other. Tactically inconclusive, it nonetheless stopped the Japanese seaborne advance on Port Moresby, a result that Australia has always regarded as the moment the home continent was denied to invasion.

Cook Islands became a favored issuing jurisdiction for large-format commemorative silver from the late 1990s onward, precisely because its nominal Crown status permitted legitimate legal tender designation without the logistical constraints of a domestic circulation economy. The 311-gram planchet is a ten-troy-ounce casting.