The islands of American Samoa use the currency of the United States, and there are no circulating coins especially for American Samoa. For coin collectors, there are two types of coins to add to your collection: commemorative milled coinage from 1988, or U.S. American Samoa “state” quarters from 2009.
1988 milled American Samoa coinage
The 1988 American Samoa coins are all milled (that is to say, machine-struck) and come in bronze, silver, or gold. The subjects commemorated on these coins include the America’s Cup yacht race and the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Korea. Silver in all of these coins is of a .9990 purity; the gold coins (higher denominations) is .9000 for a $50 coin and .9990 for three $100 coins. Some of these 1988 American Samoa coins feature the phrase “SAMOA MUAMUA LE ATUA” (“Samoa, Let God Be First”, the official motto of the islands) as would the 2009 U.S. state quarters minted for American Samoa. At least one coin from this year was inscribed “AMERIKA SAMOA” but most used the regular English name.
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Denominations of 1988 American Samoa coins
Dollar coins: 1, 5, 25, 50, 100
2009 American Samoa State Quarters
As the United States’ Fifty State Quarters program drew to a close, it was decided to extend it by adding special quarters for Washington, D.C. and several American territories. In 2009, this included American Samoa, and the quarter, which circulates in regular American currency along with the other state quarters, features the “SAMOA MUAMUA LE ATUA” phrase, as did the 1988 special milled coinage.
Less varied than its Polynesian neighbors, American Samoa coins tend to appeal to collectors of state quarters and to investors in silver and gold — and to those who collect America’s Cup or coins celebrating the 1988 Olympics.
(See also the coins of Samoa, a.k.a. Western Samoa.)
