20 Cents - Elizabeth II Tarbosaurus

Samoa has issued a steady stream of numismatic collector pieces through the New Zealand Mint under licensing arrangements, and this release falls squarely in that category. Tarbosaurus bataar — the Asian cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex — was first described from Mongolian Gobi Desert specimens recovered by Soviet paleontological expeditions in the 1940s and 1950s, though its taxonomic relationship to T. rex has been disputed for decades.

The partial gilding on these issues is applied after striking, a process that has raised questions in some collector circles about long-term adhesion on copper substrates at this weight class.