MONGOLIA
TIGER (SIBERIAN TIGER) (WITH DIAMOND EYES)
GOLD 1,000 TUGRIK CERTIFIED BY NGC PROOF 68 ULTRA CAMEO
OBV: SOYOMBO NATIONAL SYMBOL LEFT WITH DENOMINATION BENEATH CENTER.
REV: TIGER HEAD FACING WITH FULL CUT DIAMONDS AS EYES; YEAR BENEATH RIGHT OF CENTER.
KM # 235
THE SIBERIAN TIGER (PANTHERA TIGRIS ALTAICA), ALSO CALLED AMUR TIGER, ONCE RANGED THOUGHOUT NORTHEAST CHINA, KOREA, THE RUSSIAN FAR-EAST AND EASTERN MONGOLIA. IN 2003, THE POPULATION COMBINED THROUGHOUT THOSE REGIONS WAS AROUND 330. THE ESTIMATED CURRENT POPULATION IN JUST RUSSIA IS AROUND 550, BUT THIS MAGNIFICENT ANIMAL IS THOUGHT TO NOW BE EXTINCT IN THE WILD IN MONGOLIA. ELSEWHERE IT IS CONSIDERED CRITICALLY ENDANGERED. THE SIBERIAN IS AMONG THE WORLD’S LARGEST LIVING CAT SPECIES EVER TO HAVE LIVED, ON AVERAGE OUTCLASSED IN SIZE ONLY BY THE BENGAL TIGER.
ANOTHER SUBSPECIES OF TIGER, THE CASPIAN TIGER, USED TO RANGE IN MONGOLIA AND OTHER PARTS OF ASIA, BUT THAT SUBSPECIES, SADLY, IS DEFINITELY EXTINCT. ITS SIZE WAS IN BETWEEN THAT OF THE SIBERIAN AND THE BENGAL. LAST SIGHTED IN THE WILD IN AFGHANISTAN IN 1998, THE DECLINE FROM HUNTING FROM THE 1920’s TO 1960’s WAS THE PRIMARY CAUSE OF EXTINCTION.
THE SOYOMBO NATIONAL SYMBOL ON THE COIN’S OBVERSE IS A SPECIAL CHARACTER FROM THE SOYOMBO ALPHABET WHICH WAS DEVELOPED BY A MONK IN THE LATE 1600’s TO WRITE MONGOLIAN. THE WORD MEANS, “SELF-CREATED”. THE SYMBOL HAS 10 COMPONENTS, FORMED IN A COLUMNAR ARRANGEMENT OF ABSTRACT AND GEOMETRIC SYMBOLS AND PATTERNS, INCLUDING FIRE, THE SUN, THE MOON, THE TAIJI (YIN-YANG), TRIANGLES AND RECTANGLES.
CONTAINS 7.77 GRAMS OF 999 FINE GOLD
0.2496 OZ AGW
34 MM IN DIAMETER
