5 Dollars Blue Butterfly

Palau has leveraged its status as an independent issuing authority since 1994 to produce an extensive series of collector-focused silver pieces, most bearing legal tender status of minimal practical relevance to an economy that runs almost entirely on the US dollar. The Blue Butterfly series sits within — no, belongs to — that wave of Pacific island numismatic programs designed expressly for the European and Asian collector market, not for circulation.

KM#169 is one of several 2008 Palauan issues featuring holographic or color-application techniques that were fashionable among world mint producers in the mid-2000s.