1 Dollar Helmut Schmidt

Palau's small-denomination gold program, active through the 2000s, contracted external minting houses to produce collector pieces with no meaningful circulation function. Schmidt, West Germany's Chancellor from 1974 to 1982, was still alive when this was struck — an unusual choice, as most sovereign commemorative portraits are posthumous. His tenure coincided with the German Autumn of 1977, when his refusal to negotiate with the Red Army Faction over the hijacking of Lufthansa Flight 181 defined his political reputation more than any legislation.