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5 Dollars Green Freshwater Pearl
| Issuer | Republic of Palau |
|---|---|
| Year | 2012 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | 3.00 mm |
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| Obverse description | Central field features a raised shield bearing the national coat of arms of Palau, depicting Neptune seated and holding a trident, accompanied by a mermaid amid stylized waves, with a star and crescent above. The shield is ornately framed with floral and scrollwork decoration. The inscription RAINBOW'S END appears in the lower portion of the shield. Above the shield, a traditional Palauan canoe under sail is depicted in the upper field. The circular legend REPUBLIC OF PALAU arcs along the upper rim, accompanied by eight five-pointed stars, and the denomination 5$ is inscribed at the base. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Central design features a color-printed freshwater mussel shell rendered in iridescent greens and blues with naturalistic ribbing, set against the polished silver field. A genuine green freshwater pearl is affixed at the center of the open shell. The curved legend MARINE LIFE PROTECTION arcs along the upper rim within a decorative panel border. The inscription MYSTERY OF THE SEA is engraved in the lower field within a wave-form cartouche, and the date 2012 appears below. |
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| Additional information |
Palau's legal tender collector coin program, running since the late 1990s, became one of the most commercially aggressive insert-coin operations in the modern numismatic market. This particular issue embeds an actual freshwater pearl into the coin's fabric — a technique requiring individual hand-setting during the minting process, which means no two examples are strictly identical in the pearl's surface character.
Freshwater pearls of this size originate almost exclusively from Chinese mollusk farming operations, a detail quietly at odds with Palau's Pacific island branding.