100 Manat

The 2009 manat series was introduced following Turkmenistan's second redenomination, which took effect on 1 January 2009 — the new manat replaced the previous manat at a rate of 5,000 to 1, itself a currency that had replaced the Soviet ruble in 1993. That compression of monetary history into a single exchange rate tells you most of what you need to know about the inflation Turkmenistan absorbed through the Niyazov years.

Thomas De La Rue's involvement placed this series among the more technically sophisticated issues in Central Asia at the time. The OVI ink and hologram package was a deliberate credibility signal from a government keen to project institutional stability under newly installed President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow.