5 Perpera - Nikola I Principality restrike

Montenegro issued this piece as a deliberate restrike of the 5 Perpera introduced under Prince Nikola I in 1909, the year he declared the Principality's first modern coinage series. The perpera itself was a short-lived currency — Montenegro abandoned it entirely after World War I, when the country was absorbed into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1918, leaving the original issues with a circulation window of under a decade.

The 2002 issue date is notable: Montenegro had just adopted the euro unilaterally that year, without EU membership, making this restrike a collector piece issued by a state that had simultaneously discarded any practical need for its own coinage.