25 Dollars - Elizabeth II Leatherback Sea Turtles

The British Virgin Islands issued a series of wildlife-themed silver coins in the early 1990s targeting the collector and proof market rather than circulation — these never passed through a single hand in commerce. The leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) was a deliberate choice: the species nests on BVI beaches, particularly Sandy Cay, and by 1993 was already listed under CITES Appendix I following decades of egg harvesting and bycatch mortality that had decimated Atlantic populations.

KM#161 was struck at the Pobjoy Mint, Sutton, Surrey, the preferred contractor for Commonwealth island territories throughout this period.