5 Seniti - Salote Tupou III

Salote Tupou III reigned for nearly half a century and was largely unknown outside the Pacific until the 1953 coronation of Elizabeth II, when her towering presence and refusal to use an umbrella in the London rain made her briefly famous across the Commonwealth. This 1967 issue appeared just two years after her death, part of the first decimal coinage series Tonga adopted under her son Taufa'ahau Tupou IV.

The transition to decimal currency in 1967 ended Tonga's pre-decimal pa'anga system tied to Australian currency conventions.