5 Dollars Independence and British Royal Wedding

Kiribati gained independence from Britain on July 12, 1979, having been administered as the Gilbert Islands colony. The 1981 dual-theme issue — pairing that independence with the Charles and Diana wedding — was a calculated production aimed squarely at the collector and thematic coin market that exploded around royal commemoratives in that year. Dozens of Commonwealth and associated territories issued nearly identical silver pieces for the Wales wedding, many sharing the same contracted private mint production.

KM#10a is the silver variant; a cupro-nickel circulation strike (KM#10) was issued alongside it.