Let's continue our look at the Endangered Wildlife series from the Kingdom of Bhutan. The second entry was release 1992 and featured another endangered animal — the Gee's golden langur.
Elly playing with the golden langur coin
Background Golden Langur
Indigenous to a small part of eastern India and the Black Mountains in Bhutan, this animal is very scarce indeed. A total population of 1000 animals is estimated. The animal was first discovered in the early 20th century by a tea planter. However, it wasn't officially recognized as a new species until 1954 after fellow tea planter and hobby naturalist Edward. P. Gee showed his observations to the Zoological Society of London.
The obverse of the endangered wildlife 300 ngultrum coin.
Obverse
The coin is also made of 925 sterling silver and measures 38 mm (~1.5 inches). The obverse shows a golden langur climbing a branch in front of a temple. This depiction relates to the belief of the Bhutanese people, that the golden langur is a holy animal.
Reverse
The reverse shows no changes, only the date has been updated to 1992. You can find a more detailed description in my first post about the Endangered Wildlife Series.
Closeup of the gee's golden langur and temple along with the bottom part of the coat of arms
And so ends our short look at the second coin in this series. Hope you enjoyed.
Which one is your favorite coin of this series so far?
Bhutan ~ Himalayan Wildlife
If you've missed one of the other entries, follow one of the links below.