2000 Shillings Yungang Grottoes

Uganda's 1996 commemorative program produced several issues under foreign licensing arrangements common to the era, where mint contractors — typically in Europe — would approach small central banks with ready-made designs in exchange for issuing authority. The Yungang Grottoes, carved into sandstone cliffs in Shanxi Province during the Northern Wei dynasty beginning around 460 AD, had no particular connection to Uganda. The Bank of Uganda was simply lending its name to a coin aimed squarely at the international collector market.

KM#127 is one of several such issues from Uganda during this period, all sharing the same technical specification — a deliberate match to the one-troy-ounce silver format favored by thematic collector series worldwide.