REPUBLIC OF PALAU (BELAU)
INTERNATIONAL COIN SERIES - WILHELM II / PRUSSIA 1899 5 MARK - 100th ANNIVERSARY OF GERMANY ACQUIRING PALAU FROM SPAIN
EXTREMELY RARE PALLADIUM COIN - ONLY 7 MINTED!
CERTIFIED BY NGC PROOF 68 ULTRA CAMEO
OBV: CROWNED IMPERIAL GERMAN EAGLE DISPLAYED; DENOMINATION BELOW.
REV: PORTRAIT BUST OF KAISER WILHELM II RIGHT; GERMAN LANGUAGE LEGEND SURROUNDING "WILHELM II DEUTSCHER KAISER KÖNIG V. PREUSSEN (WILLIAM II GERMAN EMPEROR AND KING OF PRUSSIA)"; DATE "1899" AT BOTTOM.
BOTH THE OBVERSE AND REVERSE DESIGNS OF THIS COIN ARE BASED ON THE GERMAN EMPIRE 1899 5 MARK COIN (GERMAN STATES-PRUSSIA SILVER 5 MARK 1899A KM # 523 - SAME DESIGN AS PALAU SILVER ISSUE KM #17).
THIS COIN, AND THE OTHERS IN THE SERIES, WERE STRUCK IN COMMEMORATION OF THE ACQUISITION OF PALAU BY THE GERMAN EMPIRE FROM THE SPANISH EMPIRE IN 1899.
PALAU WAS CLAIMED TO HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED BY THE SPANISH EXPLORER RUY LÓPEZ de VILLALOBOS IN 1543, AND "REDISCOVERED" IN 1710 BY DON FRANCISCO de PADILLA. SPAIN NEVER SETTLED PALAU, BUT REASSERTED ITS CLAIM IN 1874. GERMANY, WHICH HAD EXPANDED ITS COLONIAL EMPIRE INTO THE PACIFIC WITH AN INTEREST IN COMMERCIAL TRADE, ALSO CLAIMED PALAU IN 1885, BUT THE POPE ABRBITRATED AND CONFIRMED SPANISH POSSESSION THE FOLLOWING YEAR. PALAU, WHICH HAD BEEN GROUPED WITH THE CAROLINE ISLANDS, WAS PURCHASED FROM SPAIN, ALONG WITH THE CAROLINES, BY GERMANY BY TREATY IN 1899. GERMANY'S COMMERCIAL INTERESTS IN PALAU RESTED IN COPRA (COCONUT), BAUXITE, PHOSPHATE, TREPANG (SEA CUCUMBER) AND SEA SHELLS.
THE GERMAN COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION OF PALAU (MADE A PART OF GERMAN NEW GUNEA) WAS DIRECTED TOWARD COMMERCIAL INTEREST AND INSTITUTED SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ORDER AMONGST THE NATIVE POPULACE. MODERNIZATION EFFORTS, SUCH AS BUILDING UP THE INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE FORM OF ROADS, WERE AIMED TO INCREASE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF THE NATIVES PALAUANS.
GERMANY LOST CONTROL OF PALAU WHEN THE JAPANESE (AS A PART OF THE ANGLO-JAPANESE ALLIANCE) SEIZED THE ARCHIPELEGO, AND OTHER GERMAN OVERSEAS TERRITORIES IN THE PACIFIC, AT THE ONSET OF WWI IN 1914.
CONTAINS 31.1 GRAMS OF .9995 FINE PALLADIUM (1.0 OZ APW)
38 MM IN DIAMETER
EXTREMELY RARE ONLY 7 MINTED!
