10 Tala - Tanumafili II Dr. Wilhelm Solf

Wilhelm Solf served as Governor of German Samoa from 1900 to 1911, a tenure marked by genuine paternalism and an unusually conciliatory approach to Samoan chiefly authority — he learned the language, opposed plantation labour abuses, and resisted settler land grabs more than most colonial administrators of the period. The 1980 issue commemorates the centenary of his birth, released under Tanumafili II, who himself held a position of traditional authority the Germans had deliberately preserved.

Struck in .500 silver, this is a circulating commemorative series piece rather than a proof issue.