1 Dollar Moorish Idol Fish, Gold Proof Issue

Palau began issuing dollar-denominated collector coins in the mid-1990s under a licensing arrangement that outsourced design and distribution almost entirely to overseas minting firms — most pieces in the series were produced by the Austrian Mint or affiliated European contractors rather than any domestic facility, Palau having no mint of its own. The marine life series, of which this is a part, was aimed squarely at the thematic collector market rather than any monetary function.

At 1.24 g of .999 gold, these were among the smallest gold proof issues commercially viable at the time, riding a wave of fractional gold collector pieces that flooded the market in the late 1990s and early 2000s.