5 Dollars Lionfish and Parrotfish

Palau's marine-themed commemorative series launched in 1992 drew heavily on the country's reputation as one of the Pacific's premier dive destinations — a deliberate soft-power move by a nation that had only achieved Compact of Free Association status with the United States in 1994. The lionfish issue appeared six years into full self-governance, part of a sustained effort to use coinage as an instrument of national identity for a country of roughly 15,000 people with no meaningful domestic coin circulation.

These pieces were struck for the collector market from the outset and saw no use as currency.