Kazakhstan coins have been issued since 1993, shortly after the Republic of Kazakhstan became independent of the former Soviet Union. There are different methods collectors may go about collecting Kazakhstan coins — every buyer chooses his or her approach based on personal taste.
Kazakhstan coins come in the Kazakh national units of currency: one tenge is divided into 100 tyin. Several coins have been issued in both units.
Tenge
The Kazakh spelling of tenge is теңге, and this is how it is rendered on Kazakh coins. (There is generally no English on the country’s coinage.) Coins have been issued in denominations of tenge from 1 to 10,000.
Tyin
The fractional unit of tenge is rendered in Kazakh as тиын. In the Krause coin catalogs, this is transliterated into English as tyin; other sources use various other spellings, such as tïin, tiyin, tijin, or tiyn. We use the spelling from the Krause coin catalogs. Tyin coins are no longer used in general circulation.
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How to collect Kazakhstan coins
Some possible ways to collect Kazakhstan coins include:
One of each denomination
There have been 18 different denominations of Kazakh coins issued since 1993. Some of these are obsolete, while others are special collectors’ pieces in silver or gold, and may be difficult to find, especially in your price range. But the fun of collecting is to fill in the holes, so owning at least one good example of each of the eighteen face-values can be a fun and exciting way to collect Kazakh coinage.
Tyin coins
Tyin coins have been issued in denominations of 2, 5, 10, 20, and 50 tyin. All date from the first year of Kazakh coinage, 1993, and none was ever issued since.
Tenge coins
Tenge coins have been issued in denominations of 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, 1000, 2500, 5000, and 10000 tenge. Coins of 2 tenge were made of brass and only minted in 2005 and 2006; every denomination above 100 is a special collectors’ piece not meant for general circulation. The numerous 500 tenge coins are made of silver, while the coins of 1000 tenge and higher are gold.
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One of each 500-tenge coin
Another, more ambitious way to collect Kazakh coins is to hunt for one of each silver 500-tenge coin. There have been many of these coins; the Republic of Kazakhstan seems to issue quite a few of these lushly-designed coins each year. Most are not too expensive, and for those with the means and the patience and diligence, completing a collection of silver 500-tenge Kazakhstaon coins can be very rewarding.
Every coin from a specific year
Choose a year that you want to collect, and browse listings to find one of each denomination of coins that Kazakhstan issued in that year. Especially of interest to some collectors may be a complete 1993 set, which is the first year of modern Kazakh coins and which would include the tyin coins which were not made after that year.
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About buying Kazakh coins
There are many places to find coins from Kazakhstan for sale; thousands of vendors all across the internet are constantly listing new items for sale. Note that non-English speaking sellers may ship worldwide, but may not use English in their sales listings.
“Kazakhstan” in other languages
Kazakh: Қазақстан (as rendered on coins, usually in capital letters: ҚАЗАҚСТАН)
Russian: Казахстан
French: Kazakhstan
Italian: Kazakistan
German: Kasachstan
Dutch: Kazachstan
Spanish: Kazajistán
