Which of the Pacific currencies actually circulate?

Obviously Fiji Dollar, Solomon Islands Dollar, Vanuatu Vatu and Polynesian & New Caledonian Franc.

But what about Samoan Tala, Tongan Pa'anga? I would guess they do.

Cook Islands and Tuvalu seem to have circulating issues as well. Do Niue, Palau and Tokelau have these as well or is it just tokens disguised as normal money?

New Guinea, Samoa, Vanuatu, Fiji, New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Solomons, Tuvalu, and Tonga all have coins that circulate.

Some Cook Islands coins also circulate, but they also use New Zealand currency and produce a lot of collectors coins as well.

Niue and Nauru do not circulate, they solely create theirs for collectors

Thanks, Neil! I knew I could count on you :-)

In saying this, the majority of the coins produced by the Pacific countries now are those horrible commemoratives that have nothing to do with the country and are designed just to make money.  

Look at the Cooks for instance. Their KM numbers now go up to over 1500. When you consider they only started issuing coins in 1972 it's an absolutely mind-blowing figure. That's an average of 38 different coins per year.  

Quote: neilithicIn saying this, the majority of the coins produced by the Pacific countries now are those horrible commemoratives that have nothing to do with the country and are designed just to make money.  

Look at the Cooks for instance. Their KM numbers now go up to over 1500. When you consider they only started issuing coins in 1972 it's an absolutely mind-blowing figure. That's an average of 38 different coins per year.  

Belgium mint too, coins worth a euro are sold by them for 100'euro's. Coincollectors, providing money for the government's treasure chests.

Anything that was not meant to circulate I ignore anyway, no matter where it is from. I would only consider commemoratives that are issued at face value (and not some ludicrous multiple) but rather focus on what it is really about: money ;-)


These days with paper currencies, it's actually all a scam, but it works as long as the majority of the people trust the value of it and trust the issuer to handle the money supply with utmost care. That said, central bankers are implementing one reckless policy after another with the goal of creating inflation but it only causes a minority of financial engineers to profit from leveraging ever more riskier trades and it deprives the older generations from income on capital.

I urge the Fed to start hiking rates sooner than later to get more sensible allocations of capital. It will not be without pain but the longer they wait the riskier it gets.

Enough of that, back to the Pacific and its lovely sceneries :-)

Not just the sceneries that are lovely, I think the Pacific countries have some of the nicest coins, Papua New Guinea especially have some real beauties. I particularly like their 1 toea coin with the butterfly.

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces3361.html

Although in saying that, if someone offered me a pile of PNG coins or another trip to Fiji I know which one I'd choose.  

I have good memories of that 1 Toea. As a kid it was the only PNG coin I owned :-)