100 Roubles Gemini

Transnistria — the narrow strip of territory between the Dniester River and the Ukrainian border — declared independence from Moldova in 1990, a breakaway status recognized by no UN member state. The Transnistrian Republican Bank nonetheless operates as a functioning central bank, issuing currency and commemorative coinage through arrangements with foreign mints, typically in Russia or Ukraine. This piece is part of a zodiac series, a format aggressively popular among small and unrecognized issuing authorities in the post-Soviet space during the 2000s, largely because collector demand for such series was reliable enough to offset the economics of small-run silver production.