1/4 Balboa 1999 Reversion of the Panama Canal

Panama issued this commemorative quarter in 1999 to mark the transfer of canal control from the United States, which had administered the waterway since its 1914 opening under the terms of the 1903 Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty — a deal signed by a French engineer with no official Panamanian authority. The handover on December 31, 1999 fulfilled the 1977 Torrijos-Carter Treaties, which President Carter signed over fierce domestic opposition in the U.S. Senate, passing by a single vote.

The 2016 date indicates a reissue, likely for circulation or collector sets, some sixteen years after the event itself.