North Korea issued a series of aluminum wildlife coins in the late 1990s primarily for the hard-currency collector market — they were never intended for domestic circulation and would have been effectively invisible to ordinary North Korean citizens, for whom aluminum coinage of this period had purely utilitarian value in tiny denominations. The Lyrurus tetrix, the black grouse, is native to the Korean peninsula's northern regions and was a recurring subject in DPRK natural history iconography during this era.
KM#180 is part of a broader fauna series from this period. Collector demand has historically come almost entirely from outside the DPRK.
North Korea issued a series of aluminum wildlife coins in the late 1990s primarily for the hard-currency collector market — they were never intended for domestic circulation and would have been effectively invisible to ordinary North Korean citizens, for whom aluminum coinage of this period had purely utilitarian value in tiny denominations. The Lyrurus tetrix, the black grouse, is native to the Korean peninsula's northern regions and was a recurring subject in DPRK natural history iconography during this era.
KM#180 is part of a broader fauna series from this period. Collector demand has historically come almost entirely from outside the DPRK.