10 Dollars - Elizabeth II Theodor Heuss

Theodor Heuss, the Federal Republic of Germany's first president, is an unusual subject for a Pacific island commemorative. These fractional gold issues from the Solomon Islands — struck under license arrangements that effectively outsource commemorative programs to European trading houses — have no connection to the depicted subject beyond the licensing fee. Heuss served from 1949 to 1959 and was instrumental in shaping the moral and intellectual tone of the early Bundesrepublik, but none of that history has any bearing on why his likeness appears here.