10 000 Dinara Eohippus

Issued in 1994 while Sarajevo was still under siege, this gold piece belongs to a remarkable series of numismatic issues produced by the fledgling Bosnian state during active armed conflict. The National Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina struck collector coinage partly as a sovereignty signal and partly to generate hard currency — gold sales to foreign collectors were one of very few revenue mechanisms available to a government cut off from normal financial systems.

The Eohippus, an extinct prehistoric ancestor of the horse, was a recurring subject in the bank's early wildlife and paleontological series. An unusual choice for a nation at war, but the series found a market.