5 Dollars Tempora Mutantur, Silver Proof Issue

Kiribati adopted its own coinage at independence in 1979, but collector issues like this one were the government's primary means of generating foreign revenue from numismatics throughout the 1980s and 1990s — the domestic economy offering little demand for silver proof coinage. "Tempora Mutantur" — the Latin phrase meaning "times change" — suggests a commemorative theme, though Kiribati's issuing authority contracted most of these programs through external agencies, making the precise occasion for this piece difficult to pin down without additional documentation.