10 Tala - Tanumafili II Roosevelt, Silver Proof Issue

Malietoa Tanumafili II held the position of O le Ao o le Malo — Head of State of Samoa — from independence in 1962 until his death in 2007, making him one of the longest-serving heads of state in the world at the time. This issue commemorates Franklin Roosevelt, part of a broader wave of Pacific island commemorative programs in the late 1970s and early 1980s that were frankly designed as much for the collector market as for any domestic monetary purpose.

The Franklin Mint and similar contract minters actively solicited small-nation governments during this period, producing proofs with limited domestic circulation relevance. Samoa issued several such pieces under Tanumafili II across these years.