50 Cents Robocop

Fiji has served as a convenient issuing authority for decades of novelty bullion, its sovereignty effectively licensed to mint programs with no connection to the islands themselves. This piece is part of a wave of pop-culture silver rounds dressed as legal tender — the Robocop IP licensed for a coin that will never see a cash register in Suva or anywhere else.

The 1987 film was itself a product of financial desperation: Orion Pictures needed a hit, director Paul Verhoeven was a European newcomer, and the script had been rejected by virtually every major studio.