50 Roubles Sagittarius

Part of the Bank of Russia's ongoing zodiac series, this piece was issued at a time when the Russian mint was aggressively expanding its bullion and collector programs following the 1998 ruble crisis — a period when hard-currency denominated commemoratives served partly as a confidence-building exercise for the central bank. Mintages for individual zodiac issues in this series were tightly controlled, typically in the range of 10,000 pieces, though precise figures vary by sign.