Catalog
500 Tögrög Buddhist Deity Maitreya
| Issuer | Mongolia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1998 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Round |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A finely detailed relief depiction of the Bodhisattva Maitreya, the future Buddha, seated in a frontal devotional pose upon an ornate throne with elaborate decorative scrollwork and floral motifs. The figure is rendered in a traditional Tibeto-Mongolian artistic style with multiple arms visible and rich iconographic detail. The Cyrillic inscription arcs around the upper field reading 'Книга Джадамб - Фрагмент Маитреи' (Book of Dzadamba - Fragment of Maitreya), and the year '1998' appears in the lower exergue. A beaded border frames the entire composition. |
| Reverse script | Cyrillic |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Mongolia's post-Soviet numismatic program in the 1990s leaned heavily on Buddhist iconography as the country reasserted a cultural and religious identity that had been systematically suppressed under the Mongolian People's Republic for nearly seven decades. Maitreya — the future Buddha awaiting rebirth in Tuṣita heaven — carries particular resonance in Mongolian Buddhism, where the Gandan Monastery in Ulaanbaatar had housed a massive gilded Maitreya statue destroyed by Soviet order in 1937, its bronze melted down for ammunition.
The 1998 gold series of which this piece is part was produced in limited quantities for the collector market, with virtually no circulation use given the face value against gold spot.