500 Francs Year of the Horse, harmony

Rwanda's commemorative program has long contracted production to European mints — this piece was almost certainly struck by the Czech Mint, which supplied the pavé-set stones directly from its own lapidary operations, an unusual vertical integration that keeps quality control tighter than most outsourced gem-setting arrangements. The Lunar series it belongs to targets the Southeast Asian collector market almost exclusively, with Rwanda providing the issuing authority while bearing little administrative connection to the coin's design or distribution.