1000 Tögrög Year of the Rooster

Mongolia's early 1990s commemorative gold program coincided almost exactly with the country's chaotic transition away from Soviet-era central planning — the Bank of Mongolia was issuing collector coins for hard currency at the same moment the domestic tugrik was in freefall. The Lunar series, of which this Rooster piece is part, was produced primarily for export sale to Asian markets, particularly Hong Kong dealers who dominated the secondary market for such issues through the mid-1990s.

One troy ounce of .999 fine gold at that weight puts this squarely in the bullion-equivalent collector category, though mintages for the Mongolian Lunar issues of this period were modest enough that numismatic premium has long since detached from spot.