50 Dollars Year of the Tiger

The Marshall Islands' prolific commemorative program of the 1990s was driven almost entirely by export demand rather than domestic circulation — the islands' actual monetary system runs on U.S. dollars. These pieces were struck by foreign minting contractors and sold directly to collectors, making their "issuer" status largely nominal. The lunar series to which this belongs targeted the Pacific Rim collector market at a moment when that segment was expanding rapidly.

KM#414 is one of several dozen Marshall Islands silver issues from 1998 alone, a volume that has suppressed secondary market premiums across the entire series.