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500 Manat Purple Swamphen
| Issuer | Turkmenistan |
|---|---|
| Year | 1996 |
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| Currency | Manat (1993-2009) |
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| Obverse description | Left-facing truncated bust effigy of President Saparmurat Niyazov set within a deeply mirrored proof field. The portrait is rendered in high relief with naturalistic detail to the hair and jacket collar. A circular legend surrounds the effigy, reading along the upper arc and continuing along the lower arc in two segments. |
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
Turkmenistan had been independent for barely five years when this coin was struck, and its early commemorative program reflected a government actively constructing national identity through imagery drawn from the country's natural geography. The Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio) inhabits the Caspian coastal wetlands — a habitat under significant pressure from Soviet-era water diversion projects that drastically reduced the Aral Sea basin.
The .925 silver specification and 28.28g weight align this issue with the international wildlife commemorative market of the 1990s, when dozens of newly independent states used coin programs primarily as hard currency earners rather than domestic circulation pieces. Most were sold directly to foreign collectors and never entered Turkmen commerce.