20 Lei The Goat with Three Kids

This piece belongs to Moldova's long-running series of commemorative issues celebrating traditional folk tales, a program the National Bank has used since the early 2000s to assert a distinct Moldovan cultural identity separate from both Romanian and Soviet-era numismatic traditions. "The Goat with Three Kids" is one of the most recognizable stories in Romanian-language folklore, codified in literary form by Ion Creangă in the 19th century — though its oral roots run considerably older.

Tombac, a copper-zinc alloy, was chosen here over sterling almost certainly on cost grounds for a circulation-adjacent commemorative. The silver plating on these pieces has a well-documented tendency to show contact marks at the high points even in lightly handled examples.