5 Dollars German Togo, Essai

Palau's 1990s numismatic program produced a string of unusual essai issues, and this palladium strike is among the most technically curious. Palladium at .999 fineness in 1999 was a speculative metal — prices were climbing sharply toward their 2001 peak driven almost entirely by automotive catalytic converter demand, not numismatics. Striking proof-quality essais in it was an unconventional gamble by the issuing authority.

The "German Togo" designation references the colonial administration Germany held over Togoland from 1884 until British and French forces seized the territory in August 1914 — the first German colonial possession to fall in the First World War, captured within weeks of hostilities opening.