10 Dollars Ludwig Erhard

Nauru's gold issues of the mid-2000s were produced almost entirely for the collector market, with no meaningful domestic circulation — the island's own currency had been the Australian dollar since independence. This piece honors Ludwig Erhard, the West German economist and chancellor whose post-war currency reform of 1948 abolished the Reichsmark and introduced the Deutsche Mark, a decision widely credited with triggering the Wirtschaftswunder.

Erhard opposed the reform being administered by the Allied Control Council and pushed instead for simultaneous price decontrol — a gamble that proved correct.