20 Vatu Vitruvian Man

Issued under the Reserve Bank of Vanuatu, this piece belongs to a wave of miniature gold fractionals that Pacific island nations began licensing to European minting houses in the 2000s — revenue-generating numismatic products with no meaningful domestic circulation. Vanuatu itself operates largely on a cash economy using the vatu, introduced at independence in 1980 when the New Hebrides condominium dissolved its joint Anglo-French administration.

At 0.50 g, production tolerances become a genuine technical constraint, and die alignment on pieces this small is notoriously inconsistent across the run.