500 Kuna - Ante Pavelic

The Independent State of Croatia was a Nazi and Italian Fascist puppet regime established in April 1941 following the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia. Ante Pavelić, the Ustaše leader whose name this coin bears, oversaw a regime responsible for mass killings of Serbs, Jews, and Roma. The gold coinage issued that year served the regime's immediate need for international credibility — a state without hard currency looked like what it was.

Struck in very limited quantities, these pieces saw virtually no circulation. Most examples that survive today are in mint state, likely held by officials or transferred as payments outside normal channels.