200 Vatu 15th Anniversary of Independence

Vanuatu achieved independence from the joint British-French Condominium in 1980, one of the more unusual colonial arrangements in Pacific history — a territory jointly administered by two powers with separate legal systems, currencies, and languages running in parallel. This note marks the fifteenth anniversary of that event, making it a commemorative issue rather than a routine replacement in the circulation series.

Thomas De La Rue's production is clean but the security specification is notably lean for a mid-1990s commemorative — watermark only, no security thread. Pick 9 is moderately scarce in uncirculated condition; commemoratives from small Pacific island nations often entered actual circulation rather than being absorbed by collectors at issue.