10 Kip Endangered Wildlife

Laos issued this piece as part of a coordinated wave of wildlife-themed commemoratives produced by socialist states in the late 1980s and early 1990s — mostly struck at European mints for export sale rather than domestic circulation. The hard currency generated through collector sales mattered far more to Vientiane than any numismatic program.

Copper rather than silver was an unusual choice for a commemorative of this type, which kept production costs low enough to widen export margins.