The Marshall Islands exploited a 1984 law granting itself coinage authority to flood the collector market throughout the late 1980s and 1990s with brass and cupro-nickel commemoratives targeting thematic collectors rather than circulators. This Atlantis piece appeared the same year the shuttle completed mission STS-79, the fourth docking with Mir and the first to exchange long-duration crew members. None of these issues saw meaningful circulation — the Marshall Islands used U.S. dollars in daily commerce, making the domestic utility of this denomination essentially zero from the moment of minting.
The Marshall Islands exploited a 1984 law granting itself coinage authority to flood the collector market throughout the late 1980s and 1990s with brass and cupro-nickel commemoratives targeting thematic collectors rather than circulators. This Atlantis piece appeared the same year the shuttle completed mission STS-79, the fourth docking with Mir and the first to exchange long-duration crew members. None of these issues saw meaningful circulation — the Marshall Islands used U.S. dollars in daily commerce, making the domestic utility of this denomination essentially zero from the moment of minting.