5 New Dollars

Taiwan's 5 New Dollar coin entered production during a decade when the island's export-driven economy was expanding at rates that made it one of the original "Four Asian Tigers." Demand for everyday coinage tracked that growth directly — the Republic of China government needed circulating currency that could keep pace with a rapidly monetizing consumer economy, and the copper-nickel series issued through the 1970s bore the workload.

The ROC maintained its claim to represent all of China throughout this period, a political fiction that grew increasingly difficult to sustain after the United Nations transferred China's seat from Taipei to Beijing in 1971.