10 Dollars Sea Horse

Palau has operated a prolific commemorative coinage program since gaining independence in 1994, contracting most production to foreign mints — this piece among them. The program exists almost entirely for the collector market; Palauan commemoratives rarely if ever circulate domestically.

The seahorse series trades on Palau's status as a marine biodiversity hotspot within Micronesia, where several seahorse species inhabit the rock island lagoons protected under UNESCO designation since 2012.