2 000 000 Karbovantsiv Independence

Issued to mark the fifth anniversary of Ukrainian independence, this coin appeared during one of the most turbulent monetary periods in the country's post-Soviet history. The karbovanets — a temporary currency introduced in 1992 to replace Soviet rubles — was already being phased out by 1996, replaced by the hryvnia at a rate of 100,000 karbovantsiv to one hryvnia. A face value of two million on a commemorative coin was not hyperbole; it was simply the arithmetic of a currency that had shed zeros faster than any mint could keep pace with.