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10 Dollars Save the Whales

Issuer Bank of Nauru
Year 2002
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Currency Dollar (1993-date)
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Obverse description The national arms of Nauru displayed in high relief at center, featuring a quartered shield supported by two frigatebird wings and flanked by sprigs of tomano, with a chief bearing a star above the shield and the motto scroll below reading GOD'S WILL FIRST. The legend BANK OF NAURU arcs along the upper periphery, and the date 2002 appears in the lower field.
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Reverse description A circular mother-of-pearl insert occupies the central field, engraved with a blue whale swimming in the foreground before a rocky coastal seascape with seabirds in flight above. The date 2002 is incused within the insert at lower center. The legend SAVE THE WHALES arcs along the upper periphery of the silver border, while the denomination 10 DOLLARS appears along the lower border in raised letters.
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Additional information

Nauru's "Save the Whales" series sits in a crowded field of Pacific island wildlife commemoratives from the early 2000s — a period when several small sovereign states with minimal domestic coin needs were licensing their monetary authority to bullion and novelty coin producers. The actual commercial relationship behind KM#15 likely ran through a European or Australian mint intermediary rather than any institution on the island itself.

Nauru's total land area is roughly 21 square kilometers, and it has no whales.