500 Tenge - Burkit

The berkut — golden eagle — occupies a specific and legally protected role in Kazakh culture, with falconry traditions in the region recognized by UNESCO in 2016 as Intangible Cultural Heritage. Kazakhstan pushed hard for that designation, partly as a diplomatic assertion of cultural identity distinct from both Russian and Chinese spheres. This coin belongs to a broader National Bank series exploiting the novelty of embedded gemstones, a format that has drawn collector premiums well above melt on the secondary market since the early 2010s. The single diamond insert, however small, requires individual hand-setting during production.