This was one of the inaugural issues of independent Western Samoa's decimal coinage, introduced in 1967 when the country converted from pounds to tālā and sene. Tanumafili II, who co-held the O le Ao o le Malo — head of state — alongside Malietoa Tanumafili's fellow paramount chief Tupua Tamasese Mea'ole until the latter's death in 1963, became sole head of state and remained so until his own death in 2007, making him the longest-serving head of state in the world at the time of his passing.
This was one of the inaugural issues of independent Western Samoa's decimal coinage, introduced in 1967 when the country converted from pounds to tālā and sene. Tanumafili II, who co-held the O le Ao o le Malo — head of state — alongside Malietoa Tanumafili's fellow paramount chief Tupua Tamasese Mea'ole until the latter's death in 1963, became sole head of state and remained so until his own death in 2007, making him the longest-serving head of state in the world at the time of his passing.