200 000 Karbovantsiv Modern Olympics

Ukraine's first commemorative coin program launched almost immediately after independence, with the National Bank issuing a wave of collector pieces through the mid-1990s while the country was simultaneously abandoning the karbovanets altogether. This Olympic issue appeared just as hyperinflation had rendered the denomination's face value essentially meaningless — 200,000 karbovantsiv would buy almost nothing by 1996, the same year the hryvnia replaced the currency entirely.

The timing made these commemoratives peculiar objects from birth: issued in a currency already scheduled for elimination, redeemable in a unit that ceased to exist within months of striking.