1 Dollar Pope Pius IX

Palau has issued commemorative dollars under its licensing agreements with the Pobjoy Mint and others since the 1990s, producing an enormous volume of themed pieces with little connection to Palauan history or currency needs. This Pope Pius IX issue falls squarely in that commercial collector series. Pius IX himself held the longest papal reign in history — over 31 years, from 1846 to 1878 — and presided over the First Vatican Council and the declaration of papal infallibility in 1870, the same year French troops withdrew and Rome fell to Italian unification forces, ending the Papal States entirely.