5 Dollars Mont-Saint-Michel

Palau has issued commemorative silver under its agreement with the U.S. dollar system since 1994, leveraging its status as a sovereign nation in Compact of Free Association with the United States to produce collector coinage with no expectation of domestic circulation. The Mont-Saint-Michel issue is one of dozens in Palau's long-running series of European architectural and heritage subjects — a commercial program aimed squarely at the thematic collector market rather than any historical or monetary occasion.

The abbey itself was founded in 708 AD following a reported vision by Bishop Aubert of Avranches, who was said to have been instructed by the Archangel Michael. Whether the geology or the devotion came first is a medieval argument still unresolved by historians.