Palau began issuing collector coinage in 1994 under a licensing arrangement that effectively outsourced its numismatic program to foreign minting houses — this piece is a product of that system, with actual production handled off-island. The "Shipwreck" theming references the extraordinary density of World War II wreck sites in Palauan waters, particularly around Peleliu and in Malakal Harbor, where the 1944 Operation Desecrate One left dozens of Japanese vessels on the seafloor.
KM#84 is one of several thematically linked issues Palau released around the millennium.
Palau began issuing collector coinage in 1994 under a licensing arrangement that effectively outsourced its numismatic program to foreign minting houses — this piece is a product of that system, with actual production handled off-island. The "Shipwreck" theming references the extraordinary density of World War II wreck sites in Palauan waters, particularly around Peleliu and in Malakal Harbor, where the 1944 Operation Desecrate One left dozens of Japanese vessels on the seafloor.
KM#84 is one of several thematically linked issues Palau released around the millennium.