3 Dram

Armenia's first coinage series was issued in 1994, just three years after independence from the Soviet Union, as the country was simultaneously fighting the Nagorno-Karabakh war and managing an economy in near-total collapse. The dram itself had only been introduced in November 1993, replacing the Russian ruble after Moscow cut off ruble zone access. Aluminium was not an aesthetic choice — it was a practical one, reflecting both the inflationary pressures on metal costs and the limited infrastructure of a newly sovereign mint operation.