Palau's authority to issue collectible coinage stems from a 1983 Compact of Free Association with the United States, which paradoxically left the U.S. dollar as Palau's official currency while granting Palauan authorities broad latitude to mint legal tender for the collector market. The scalloped hammerhead, listed as endangered since 2008 on the IUCN Red List following documented population collapses of over 95% in some Atlantic fishing grounds, was a pointed species choice.
At one gram of .9999 fine gold, this is a bullion-adjacent piece with essentially no circulation history by design.
Palau's authority to issue collectible coinage stems from a 1983 Compact of Free Association with the United States, which paradoxically left the U.S. dollar as Palau's official currency while granting Palauan authorities broad latitude to mint legal tender for the collector market. The scalloped hammerhead, listed as endangered since 2008 on the IUCN Red List following documented population collapses of over 95% in some Atlantic fishing grounds, was a pointed species choice.
At one gram of .9999 fine gold, this is a bullion-adjacent piece with essentially no circulation history by design.