The "Shi Zi" — lion in Mandarin — places this squarely within the growing market for Chinese-themed Pacific island issues, where Samoa's treaty mint arrangements have made it a vehicle for coins aimed almost entirely at the Asian collector market rather than domestic circulation. Samoa's nominal face value makes these issues legal tender on paper; in practice, not one will cross a shop counter in Apia.
The "Shi Zi" — lion in Mandarin — places this squarely within the growing market for Chinese-themed Pacific island issues, where Samoa's treaty mint arrangements have made it a vehicle for coins aimed almost entirely at the Asian collector market rather than domestic circulation. Samoa's nominal face value makes these issues legal tender on paper; in practice, not one will cross a shop counter in Apia.