50 Manat Akhal-Teke horse

The Akhal-Teke is one of the oldest surviving horse breeds on earth, originating on the steppes of what is now Turkmenistan and prized for at least 3,000 years for its stamina in desert conditions. Soviet collectivization policies in the 1930s nearly destroyed the breed entirely — herds were slaughtered for meat, and the population collapsed to fewer than a thousand animals by some estimates.

Post-independence Turkmenistan under Saparmurat Niyazov elevated the Akhal-Teke to an instrument of national identity, a role it has retained under Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, himself a published author on the subject.