25 Roubles Sable

Part of Russia's early post-Soviet wildlife conservation series, this issue was authorized as legal tender but produced in strictly limited quantities for the collector market — it never entered general circulation. The sable had particular economic significance to the Russian state: the fur trade built Siberian colonial infrastructure for centuries, and Soviet-era overhunting had pushed populations low enough that the species became a conservation priority by the late Soviet period.

The .999 fine specification was deliberate, matching investment-grade bullion standards while the small flan kept production costs contained.