1 Som Earring

The Kyrgyz Republic has produced a small but deliberate series of coins celebrating traditional nomadic jewelry forms, of which this earring type is among the more recognizable. The som series itself dates to 1993, introduced after Kyrgyzstan broke from the ruble zone — one of the last post-Soviet states to do so — when Moscow's monetary disintegration left member republics little choice but to issue their own currencies fast.

KM#84 is a collector piece, not a circulation strike, and copper-nickel was chosen to keep production costs low against a mintage that almost certainly ran in the low thousands.