1 Dollar Sailfin Tang Fish

Palau's marine-themed collector series emerged from a 1994 licensing arrangement that gave the newly independent republic a reliable stream of hard currency revenue through foreign coin distributors, primarily marketed to European collectors. Most pieces in this extended series were never intended for domestic circulation and entered the market through specialist dealers in Germany and the Netherlands.

KM#285 is one of dozens of types in the program — copper-nickel rather than silver, which places it at the lower end of the series' production hierarchy.