1 Lats European Mink

Latvia's European mink coin was issued as part of a broader series highlighting endangered species native to the Baltic region. By 1999, the European mink (Mustela lutreola) had already been functionally extirpated from most of its former range through competition with the introduced American mink — a species that escaped fur farms across the Soviet Union beginning in the 1930s and spread aggressively westward. Latvia represented one of the last fragile strongholds.

KM#45 is a proof-only issue with strictly limited mintage, produced for the collector market rather than circulation.