50 Luma

Armenia's first post-Soviet coinage series, including this piece, was introduced in 1994 as the country was still fighting the Nagorno-Karabakh war with Azerbaijan — a conflict that had devastated the economy and contributed to hyperinflation reaching several thousand percent annually in the early transition years. The dram itself had only been introduced in November 1993, replacing the Russian ruble that had circulated since independence.

Aluminium was chosen for the lowest denominations partly because the metal's low intrinsic value prevented immediate melting, a real concern given the economic instability of the period.