Catalog
50 000 Drams Mesrop Mashtots
| Issuer | Central Bank of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic |
|---|---|
| Year | 1998 |
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| Currency | Dram (2003-2023) |
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| Obverse description | At center, the coat of arms of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, depicting a spread eagle with wings displayed, bearing a shield on its breast, surmounted by a crown, and surrounded by radiating rays; the arms are flanked by two olive branches in the upper field. The date 1998 appears above the arms along the upper rim, and the denomination 50000 is inscribed below. A circular Armenian-script legend surrounds the lower portion of the field, reading the name of the republic in Armenian. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Armenian |
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| Additional information |
The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, internationally unrecognized and operating under a de facto Armenian administration following the 1994 ceasefire, issued this coin partly to assert institutional legitimacy through the trappings of a sovereign monetary authority. The choice of Mesrop Mashtots — the 5th-century monk who invented the Armenian alphabet — was deliberate: a cultural claim as much as a commemorative one.
No commercial banking infrastructure existed to circulate these pieces. They were produced for the collector market, with the Armenian dram functioning as actual currency in the territory.