50 Ngultrum Year of the Horse

Bhutan's Royal Monetary Authority has issued a long-running series of small-format gold pieces tied to the Tibetan-Buddhist lunar calendar, of which this Year of the Horse issue is one. The horse year in question — 2014 — corresponds to the Wood Horse year in that cycle, considered particularly auspicious in Bhutanese and broader Himalayan tradition. These pieces circulate almost exclusively as gift and collectible items; the ngultrum itself is pegged at parity to the Indian rupee, making gold coinage of any denomination purely ceremonial in function.