Order of King George Tupou I Order of King George Tupou I The Royal Order of King George Tupou I is a knighthood order of the Kingdom of Tonga. The Order was established between 1876–1890 by King George Tupou I as a general reward for meritorious services to the kingdom. The Order consists of three classes: In 2008 King George Tupou V declared the classes of Knight Commander and Commander obsolete. The "Star" is a 90mm 8-pointed silver, silver-gilt & enamel faceted Star with four silver Tongan crowns on the main points, (in the North, South, East & West). The white enamel central medallion has the
Tongan paʻanga same approximate size as earlier dated coins. In 2011, commercial demand for 20 and 50 seniti prompted these denominations to be issued featuring the effigy of Tupou IV posthumous, who had died in 2006. A new obverse design for George Tupou V had not yet been made or selected at this time, possibly due to increased health concerns regarding the latter monarch, who died in March 2012. For a brief period, some of the higher denomination coinage from the 1967-1968 series was "countermarked" with commemoration stamps that were added to the coin after being struck. The most distinct of these