Indonesia's 1974 conservation series was issued in coordination with the WWF and the Indonesian government's push to draw international attention to critically endangered native fauna. The Javan tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica) was already functionally extinct at the time of minting — the last credible confirmed sightings date to the early 1970s, and the population on the Ujung Kulon peninsula had almost certainly collapsed before this coin reached collectors' hands.
The coin changed nothing. The subspecies was officially declared extinct in 2003.
Indonesia's 1974 conservation series was issued in coordination with the WWF and the Indonesian government's push to draw international attention to critically endangered native fauna. The Javan tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica) was already functionally extinct at the time of minting — the last credible confirmed sightings date to the early 1970s, and the population on the Ujung Kulon peninsula had almost certainly collapsed before this coin reached collectors' hands.
The coin changed nothing. The subspecies was officially declared extinct in 2003.