50 Rupees - Birendra Bir Bikram Lord Buddha

Nepal's 2000 proof program coincided with the 2544th anniversary of Buddha's birth under the Buddhist calendar, prompting the Nepal Rastra Bank to issue several commemorative denominations simultaneously. The Nordic gold composition — an aluminum-bronze alloy developed by Nordic Minting in Finland and widely adopted for commemorative and circulating coinage from the 1990s onward — was an unusual choice for a proof issue, which more typically appears in silver or gold.

Birendra Bir Bikram, the reigning monarch at time of issue, was killed the following year in the royal massacre of June 2001.