10 Vatu Attacus Atlas

The Atlas moth series was part of a broader wave of Pacific island wildlife coinage that accelerated in the early 2000s, when small sovereign nations — Vanuatu among them — increasingly licensed their minting rights to European producers targeting the collector market. These issues were never intended for circulation. The Reserve Bank of Vanuatu authorized them primarily as a revenue instrument, with the coins bearing face values that bear no relationship to their actual cost of production or retail price.

Silver-plated copper-nickel rather than solid silver — worth noting for collectors who may encounter these grouped with genuine bullion issues at shows.