Silver Two Ounces 2009 Tiffany Art - Baroque, Coin from Palau - detailed information

The Republic of Palau is an island country in the western Pacific, in free association with the United States. In one way or another, the country has been under US administration since it was established, and has never had its own separate currency - it has always used the US Dollar. However, Palau allows some foreign mints to issue coins under its authority; these are denominated in US Dollars but are only legal tender in Palau, so can in a way be considered to be in "Palau Dollars", even though such a currency does not officially exist.

The coins are usually dedicated to historical or general popular culture themes not related to the country itself. Many of them are in standard bullion sizes, including the large two troy ounces (2oz) of silver format.

This coin is part of the Tiffany Art series by CIT Coin Invest, and is dedicated to the Baroque art style.

The mint says about it:
Baroque stands for the art history epoch between 1570 and 1770. Above all, the term characterises a whole awareness of life and is applied to architecture, sculpture, and painting, philosophy, literature and theatre, fashion, music and dance. Baroque is a byword for affluence, splendour and motion. Baroque loves drama and spectacle; it is loud, flashy and colourful. The Baroque world is a stage and its life is a theatre.

The latest Tiffany coin shows the perhaps best known illustrious example of such Baroque art: the Palace of Versailles. The "Sun King", Louis XIV (1638 - 1715), reconstructed his predecessor’s small hunting lodge at the gates of Paris into a total baroque work of art. The gigantic complex with more than 2,000 rooms not only served as an entertainment location; it was rather an elaborate sophisticated instrument for absolutist political power. The complex was supposed to bond the scheming higher nobility close to the king and announce the king's message to the whole world: I am the state affluence and the only representative of God on Earth, and nobody can match my power. L’état - c’est moi! (The State- this is me).

The front side of this new coin gives insight to the magnificently equipped Hall of Mirrors in the palace of Versailles, the obverse shows a fountain of "Parterre d’eau" and in the background the palaces front garden. This masterpiece is punctuated by a glass pane in best baroque splendour.