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50 Dollars Skylab

Issuer Marshall Islands
Year 1989
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Composition Silver (.999)
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Reverse script Latin
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Edge Reeded
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Additional information

Skylab, America's first space station, had already been dead for a decade when this coin was issued. The station reentered Earth's atmosphere in July 1979, scattering debris across the Australian outback — NASA had miscalculated the reentry trajectory, and the Western Australian town of Esperance famously issued the agency a $400 littering fine that went unpaid for nearly thirty years.

The Marshall Islands gained self-governance in 1979 and began its commemorative coin program in 1986, quickly establishing itself as a prolific issuer of .999 silver rounds targeting the collector market rather than circulation.