1 Rouble Sagittarius

Transnistria — officially recognized by no UN member state — has operated its own central bank and issued its own coinage since the early 1990s, following its violent breakaway from Moldova after the Soviet collapse. The Transnistrian Republican Bank has leaned heavily into commemorative and thematic issues as a soft tool of institutional legitimacy, producing series that would look at home in any recognized state's mint catalog.

This Sagittarius piece belongs to a twelve-coin zodiac series issued across 2016. Nickel-plated steel kept production costs minimal — appropriate for a monetary authority operating in an economy propped significantly by Russian subsidies and remittances.