100 Tala - Tanumafili II IX Commonwealth Games

The 1978 Edmonton Commonwealth Games were the first Games held in Canada, and Samoa was among the smaller Pacific nations issuing commemorative gold to mark the occasion. These participant-nation issues were typically produced in limited quantities for the collector market rather than circulation, funded partly through agreements with foreign minting houses rather than domestic facilities — Samoa had no mint of its own.

Tanumafili II held the position of O le Ao o le Malo, a role created at independence in 1962 that he would occupy until his death in 2007, making him one of the longest-serving heads of state of the twentieth century.