Tuvalu's first coinage was issued in 1976, the same year the islands separated administratively from the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony and gained internal self-government — full independence followed in 1978. The decision to issue a distinct national coinage before independence was finalized was itself a political statement, one the British administration accommodated with unusual speed.
The second portrait of Elizabeth II, by Arnold Machin, was already being phased out on Australian and New Zealand coinage by the late 1970s, making Tuvalu one of the last Pacific territories to adopt it at all.
Tuvalu's first coinage was issued in 1976, the same year the islands separated administratively from the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony and gained internal self-government — full independence followed in 1978. The decision to issue a distinct national coinage before independence was finalized was itself a political statement, one the British administration accommodated with unusual speed.
The second portrait of Elizabeth II, by Arnold Machin, was already being phased out on Australian and New Zealand coinage by the late 1970s, making Tuvalu one of the last Pacific territories to adopt it at all.