5000 Tögrög Tiger

Mongolia's large-format silver issues of the 1990s arrived during a period of acute economic dislocation — the country had shed central planning only five years earlier, and hard currency was scarce enough that coins like this were produced almost entirely for foreign collector markets rather than domestic use. The Bank of Mongolia partnered with overseas mints to produce them, as local striking capacity was wholly inadequate for a five-ounce piece.

KM#139 is among the earlier entries in what became a prolific collector series. The five-ounce format was a deliberate pitch to the Western and Asian bullion-collector crossover market gaining momentum through the mid-1990s.