10 000 Córdobas Ocelot

Nicaragua issued this coin during one of the most turbulent monetary moments in its modern history — 1990 was the year the Córdoba was replaced by the Gold Córdoba at a rate of 5,000,000 to 1, an exchange ratio that reflected a decade of Sandinista-era inflation and wartime economic collapse. A coin denominated at 10,000 Córdobas was, by the time it was struck, essentially a collector artifact denominated in a currency already being retired.

The ocelot had disappeared from most of its Central American range by this period, making the subject as much a conservation statement as a numismatic one — Nicaragua was among the last countries in the region where viable populations persisted.