10 000 Kip Year of the Pig

Issued by the Bank of the Lao P.D.R. as part of a broader Southeast Asian tradition of lunar new year commemoratives, this piece corresponds to the Year of the Pig beginning February 18, 2007. Laos has issued relatively few gold coins in the post-revolutionary period — the Pathet Lao government that consolidated power in 1975 was deeply suspicious of gold-backed instruments — making the Bank's willingness to produce fine gold commemoratives from the late 1990s onward a notable policy shift. Mintages for this series were extremely small, primarily targeting the international collector market rather than domestic circulation.