1000 Tögrög Year of the Rat

Mongolia's lunar series of the 1990s was issued partly to capture the growing international collector market for gold bullion and themed commemoratives, a revenue strategy that many smaller sovereign mints pursued aggressively in that decade. At 3.11 g of .9999 gold, this is a fractional issue — effectively a 1/10 oz format — priced for accessibility rather than investment weight.

The Rat opens the twelve-year lunar cycle, making 1996 the first release in what became a complete Mongolian lunar gold run.