5 Dollars Year of the Mouse, colored

Palau has operated as a prolific commemorative mint client since the 1990s, issuing coins under licensing arrangements with foreign minting houses — primarily in Germany and Austria — that bear Palauan authorization but have no meaningful circulation history in the islands themselves. This piece belongs to a Chinese Lunar calendar series targeting the collector market in Southeast Asia and the diaspora, timed to the Year of the Rat cycle that began January 25, 2020.

The KM#856.2 suffix designation distinguishes the colorized variant from the plain bullion strike, a common cataloging split for this production type.