500 Manat Turkmenic Jerboa

Turkmenistan's early commemorative program, launched in the mid-1990s following independence from the Soviet Union, leaned heavily on native fauna as subject matter — partly nationalism, partly an attempt to attract foreign collector markets still unfamiliar with the new state's currency. The jerboa series in particular was produced in limited quantities for export sale rather than domestic circulation, as the manat's purchasing power made silver commemoratives effectively inaccessible to ordinary Turkmen citizens in 1999.