100 Tālā

Samoa's switch to a hybrid substrate for this high-denomination note preceded many larger economies and reflected a pragmatic response to the note's expected lifespan in tropical circulation conditions — humidity and heat degrade conventional cotton-linen paper far faster in the Pacific than standard replacement cycles account for. De La Rue's hybrid product offered meaningfully better durability without committing fully to polymer, which several Pacific island issuers had already adopted by this point.

The series ran nearly a decade before replacement, an unusually long issue window for a circulating high-value note in a small open economy where remittances — Samoa's are among the highest per capita in the world — put significant transactional pressure on the 100 Tālā denomination specifically.