50 000 Tenge 15 Years of Tenge

Kazakhstan introduced the tenge in November 1993, replacing the Soviet ruble at a rate of one tenge to 500 rubles — a launch that had to be executed in near-total secrecy to prevent capital flight before the changeover date. This piece, issued on the currency's fifteenth anniversary, is among the heaviest modern commemorative gold coins produced by any former Soviet republic, with the National Bank commissioning it partly as a demonstration of the country's accumulated gold reserves, which by 2008 had grown substantially on the back of Kashagan and Tengiz oil revenues.