Argymak (Argymaq) blister

The coin symbolises the sacred argymak, one of the most important animals in Turkic culture, personifying the unity of man and nature. Its design is based on a combination of naturalistic and stencilled images of the animal executed in the Saka style. ARǴYMAQ completes the series "Cult Animals — Totems of Nomads": the coins went on sale through the online store of the National Bank from 22 October 2025. The silver coins with face values of 5,000 and 1,000 tenge are made using gilding technology and a diamond insert and carry identical obverse and reverse designs; the cupronickel coins with face values of 500 and 200 tenge are struck in proof-like quality with gilding and in brilliant uncirculated quality without it.

The pictorial side shows the head of an argymak — a horse regarded as sacred in Turkic culture. The muzzle is given large, with the characteristic line of the forehead and neck, and a diamond insert is placed in the eye: the diameter of the stone differs by denomination — 2 mm on the 5,000 tenge coin and 1 mm on the 1,000 tenge coin. One part of the head is modelled naturalistically, the other is reduced to a stencil and picked out with gilding, so the horse reads both as a living animal and as a sign. In the upper part stands the inscription "ARǴYMAQ", around the perimeter a wide border with decorative elements. On the silver coins both sides carry identical designs.

Totems in primitive beliefs are animals that served as the object of the cult of a clan or tribe and were regarded as its forebears or guardians. According to historians, some Turkic leaders traced their descent to legendary ancestors born of a totem animal — in this way a clan legend turned a beast or a bird into the first ancestor of a whole people. For a nomad such kinship was not an abstract metaphor but a way of explaining where the clan came from and who answers for it before the sky: the totem is at once a relative and a protector. That is why the image of a totem animal on a coin is not decoration but a sign of protection, which the steppe tradition read without any explanation.

What all the coins of the series share is the union of a naturalistic and a stencilled view of the animal with an allegorical treatment in the Saka animal style: one part is shown as the animal, the other as a gilded mask with an element of mysticism. The illustrator is S. S. Maltsev. In the Saka tradition the figure of a beast is reduced to a sign: what matters is not fur or anatomy but silhouette, rhythm and repetition, so the naturalistic and the sign-like parts on one side read as two views of a single being — the living and the sacred.

The восьмая coin of the series appeared on 22 October 2025; this card covers the cupronickel, brilliant uncirculated quality.

The coins are struck at the Kazakhstan Mint and issued in several versions: silver coins in a souvenir pack with a numbered certificate of quality of the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the state, Russian and English languages, cupronickel coins of proof-like quality in a souvenir pack, and cupronickel coins of brilliant uncirculated quality in special printed packaging. All the coins must be accepted at their face value throughout the Republic of Kazakhstan for all types of payments, as well as for crediting to bank accounts and for transfer, change and exchange in all banks of the country.

Obverse

A composition of a naturalistic and a stencilled image of an argymak's head; the inscription "ARǴYMAQ" is placed at the top. A wide border with decorative elements runs around the perimeter.

Reverse

Within a frame of national ornament — the year of minting, the denomination and the trademark of the Kazakhstan Mint, and on the silver coins also an inscription naming the metal, its purity and weight. Around the rim runs the inscription "QAZAQSTAN RESPÝBLIKASY • REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN".