The tögrög or tugrik (sign

Currency sign

A currency sign is a graphic symbol used as a shorthand for a currency's name, especially in reference to amounts of money. They typically employ the first letter or character of the currency, sometimes with minor changes such as ligatures or overlaid vertical or horizontal bars...

: ₮; code

ISO 4217

ISO 4217 is a standard published by the International Standards Organization, which delineates currency designators, country codes , and references to minor units in three tables:* Table A.1 – Current currency & funds code list...

: MNT) is the official currency of Mongolia

Mongolia

Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...

. It was historically subdivided into 100 möngö (мөнгө). Currently the lowest denomination in regular use is the 10-tögrög note and the highest is the 20,000-tögrög note. Currency sign is .

In 2010, the tögrög was the best-performing currency world-wide.

History

The tögrög was introduced on December 9, 1925 at a value equal to one Soviet ruble

Soviet ruble

The Soviet ruble or rouble was the currency of the Soviet Union. One ruble is divided into 100 kopeks, ....

, where one ruble or tögrög was equal to 18 gram (0.57871343451409 ozt) of silver. It replaced the Mongolian dollar

Mongolian dollar

The dollar was the currency of Mongolia between 1921 and 1925. Treasury notes were issued under Baron Ungern in 1921. The denominations were 10, 20, 50 and 100 dollars. It was intended to replace the Chinese yuan at par but, according to European travellers of the time, was worthless...

 and other currencies and became the sole legal currency on April 1, 1928.

Möngö coins are not in circulation as currency any longer, as they are of negligible value. They are sold to tourists and as novelties and collectibles now.

Coins

During socialism, the tögrög coin denominations were 1, 2, 5, 10, 15, 20, 50 möngö, and 1 tögrög. After the Mongolian People's Republic came to an end in 1990 and inflation surged, the möngö coins were abandoned and larger tögrög values introduced.

Coin Series during the People's Republic of Mongolia era http://www.mongolbank.mn/oldcoins.htm
Images	Series	Composition	Obverse	Reverse	Date recalled	Valueless since	Script	Minted in	Calendar used
http://www.mongolbank.mn/images/Coins1/oldcoins1.jpg	1925	1-5 möngö: copper Copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish... 10-20 möngö: 0.5 silver Silver Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal... 50 möngö, 1 tögrög: 90% silver Silver Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...	Soyombo Soyombo symbol The Soyombo symbol is a special character out of the Mongolian Soyombo script. It serves as a national symbol of Mongolia, to be found on the Flag of Mongolia, the Coat of arms of Mongolia, and on many other official documents....	Value	1950	1970	Mongolian Mongolian alphabet Many alphabets have been devised for the Mongolian language over the centuries, and from a variety of scripts. The oldest, called simply the Mongolian script, has been the predominant script during most of Mongolian history, and is still in active use today in the Inner Mongolia region of China...	Soviet Union Soviet Union The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....	Mongolian Year 15
http://www.mongolbank.mn/images/Coins1/oldcoins2.jpg	1937	1-5 möngö: aluminium bronze Aluminium bronze Aluminium bronze is a type of bronze in which aluminium is the main alloying metal added to copper, in contrast to standard bronze or brass... 10-20 möngö: cupronickel Cupronickel Cupronickel or copper-nickel or "cupernickel" is an alloy of copper that contains nickel and strengthening elements, such as iron and manganese. Cupronickel is highly resistant to corrosion in seawater, because its electrode potential is adjusted to be neutral with regard to seawater...			1960	1970			Mongolian Year 27
http://www.mongolbank.mn/images/Coins1/oldcoins3.jpg	1945		coat of arms Coat of arms of Mongolia The state emblem of Mongolia is used by the government of Mongolia as its symbol of state. It is officially used for example on documents such as Mongolian passports, and government and embassy placards.- Description :... , "Бугд Найрамдах Монгол Ард Улс" (People's Republic of Mongolia)		1970	1970	Cyrillic Cyrillic alphabet The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...		Mongolian Year 35
http://www.mongolbank.mn/images/Coins1/oldcoins4.jpg	1959	Aluminium Aluminium Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....			1990	1990		P.R. China People's Republic of China China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...	Common Era Common Era Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...
http://www.mongolbank.mn/images/Coins1/oldcoins6.jpg, http://www.mongolbank.mn/images/Coins1/oldcoins5.jpg	1970, 77, 80, 81	1-5 möngö: aluminium Aluminium Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances.... 10-50 möngö: cupronickel Cupronickel Cupronickel or copper-nickel or "cupernickel" is an alloy of copper that contains nickel and strengthening elements, such as iron and manganese. Cupronickel is highly resistant to corrosion in seawater, because its electrode potential is adjusted to be neutral with regard to seawater...	coat of arms Coat of arms of Mongolia The state emblem of Mongolia is used by the government of Mongolia as its symbol of state. It is officially used for example on documents such as Mongolian passports, and government and embassy placards.- Description :... , state title in short (БНМАУ) for 1-5 möngö, in full for 10-50 möngö		—	—		1970, 77: East Germany 1980, 81: Mongolia
http://www.mongolbank.mn/images/Coins1/oldcoins5.jpg	Circulating & commemorative 1 tögrög	1971: aluminium bronze Aluminium bronze Aluminium bronze is a type of bronze in which aluminium is the main alloying metal added to copper, in contrast to standard bronze or brass... , cupronickel Cupronickel Cupronickel or copper-nickel or "cupernickel" is an alloy of copper that contains nickel and strengthening elements, such as iron and manganese. Cupronickel is highly resistant to corrosion in seawater, because its electrode potential is adjusted to be neutral with regard to seawater... , silver Silver Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal... , or gold Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a... 1981: aluminium bronze Aluminium bronze Aluminium bronze is a type of bronze in which aluminium is the main alloying metal added to copper, in contrast to standard bronze or brass...	coat of arms Coat of arms of Mongolia The state emblem of Mongolia is used by the government of Mongolia as its symbol of state. It is officially used for example on documents such as Mongolian passports, and government and embassy placards.- Description :... , full state title, value	"БНМАУ", Damdin Sükhbaatar on a horse, "50 ЖИЛ" or "60 ЖИЛ" depending on the year	?	?		1971: East Germany 1981: Mongolia	—
	1981-88: 1 tögrög with various commemorative subjects	Aluminium bronze Aluminium bronze Aluminium bronze is a type of bronze in which aluminium is the main alloying metal added to copper, in contrast to standard bronze or brass...		6 designs, such as Karl Marx, Soviet-Mongolian space flight, etc.	?	?		Mongolia	Common Era Common Era Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...

Current Coins http://www.mongolbank.mn/coins.htm
Image		Value	Technical parameters				Description			Date of first minting
Obverse	Reverse		Diameter	Thickness	Mass	Composition	Edge	Obverse	Reverse
http://www.mongolbank.mn/images/Currcoin/coin20f.gif	http://www.mongolbank.mn/images/Currcoin/coin20b.gif	20 tögrög	17.5 mm	1.5 mm	0.78 g	Aluminium Aluminium Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....	Milled	Value	Soyombo Soyombo symbol The Soyombo symbol is a special character out of the Mongolian Soyombo script. It serves as a national symbol of Mongolia, to be found on the Flag of Mongolia, the Coat of arms of Mongolia, and on many other official documents....	1994
http://www.mongolbank.mn/images/Currcoin/coin50f.gif	http://www.mongolbank.mn/images/Currcoin/coin50b.gif	50 tögrög	23 mm	1.8 mm	16.8 g
http://www.mongolbank.mn/images/Currcoin/coin100f.gif	http://www.mongolbank.mn/images/Currcoin/coin100b.gif	100 tögrög	22 mm	1.5 mm	3.84 g	Cupronickel Cupronickel Cupronickel or copper-nickel or "cupernickel" is an alloy of copper that contains nickel and strengthening elements, such as iron and manganese. Cupronickel is highly resistant to corrosion in seawater, because its electrode potential is adjusted to be neutral with regard to seawater...		Value, Janraisig Temple
http://www.mongolbank.mn/images/Currcoin/coin200f.gif	http://www.mongolbank.mn/images/Currcoin/coin200b.gif	200 tögrög	25 mm	1.7 mm	6.2 g			Value, the Government House
http://www.mongolbank.mn/images/Currcoin/coin500f.gif	http://www.mongolbank.mn/images/Currcoin/coin500b.gif	500 tögrög	22 mm	1.7 mm	4.1 g		Plain	Value, Soyombo Soyombo symbol The Soyombo symbol is a special character out of the Mongolian Soyombo script. It serves as a national symbol of Mongolia, to be found on the Flag of Mongolia, the Coat of arms of Mongolia, and on many other official documents....	Damdin Sükhbaatar	2001

Banknotes

Like coins the tögrög banknotes were very similar to the Soviet ruble

Soviet ruble

The Soviet ruble or rouble was the currency of the Soviet Union. One ruble is divided into 100 kopeks, ....

 during the Mongolian People's Republic era. The similarities included color theme, overall design, and the lineup of the denominations, which were 1, 2, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 tögrög unless stated otherwise. The color for each value is

• 1 tögrög: brown
• 2 tögrög: green
• 5 tögrög: blue
• 10 tögrög: green
• 20 tögrög: red
• 25 tögrög: lilac
• 50 tögrög: green
• 100 tögrög: brown

They were all printed in the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

. But modern tögrög banknotes are usually printed in Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

.

Banknote Series during the People's Republic of Mongolia era http://www.mongolbank.mn/oldnotes.htm
Image	Series	Obverse	Reverse	Date recalled	Valueless since	Script	Calendar used	Remark
http://www.mongolbank.mn/images/Notes/notes1.jpg	1925	Soyombo Soyombo symbol The Soyombo symbol is a special character out of the Mongolian Soyombo script. It serves as a national symbol of Mongolia, to be found on the Flag of Mongolia, the Coat of arms of Mongolia, and on many other official documents.... , value	Value	1940	1966	Mongolian Mongolian alphabet Many alphabets have been devised for the Mongolian language over the centuries, and from a variety of scripts. The oldest, called simply the Mongolian script, has been the predominant script during most of Mongolian history, and is still in active use today in the Inner Mongolia region of China...	Common Era Common Era Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...	2 tögrög in green instead of 3 tögrög
http://www.mongolbank.mn/images/Notes/notes2.jpg	1939	Soyombo Soyombo symbol The Soyombo symbol is a special character out of the Mongolian Soyombo script. It serves as a national symbol of Mongolia, to be found on the Flag of Mongolia, the Coat of arms of Mongolia, and on many other official documents.... , Sükhbaatar	Value	1955	1966		Common Era Common Era Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...  and Mongolian Year 29	25 tögrög in brown
	1941	Coat of arms Coat of arms of Mongolia The state emblem of Mongolia is used by the government of Mongolia as its symbol of state. It is officially used for example on documents such as Mongolian passports, and government and embassy placards.- Description :... , Sükhbaatar		?	?	Both	Common Era Common Era Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...  and Mongolian Year 31
http://www.mongolbank.mn/images/Notes/notes3.jpg	1955			1966	1966	Cyrillic Cyrillic alphabet The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...	Common Era Common Era Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...	25 tögrög in blue on obverse, brown on reverse
http://www.mongolbank.mn/images/Notes/notes4.jpg	1966	Coat of arms Coat of arms of Mongolia The state emblem of Mongolia is used by the government of Mongolia as its symbol of state. It is officially used for example on documents such as Mongolian passports, and government and embassy placards.- Description :... , Sükhbaatar except 1 tögrög	Value for 1-25 tögrög, the Government House for 50 and 100 tögrög	—	—	Both
	1981, 83		As above, except industrial theme for 20 tögrög					20 tögrög in green instead of 25 tögrög

1993 Series http://www.mongolbank.mn/web/guest/banknotes/notes
Image1		Value	Dimensions	Main Color	Description			Date of issue2	Usage
Obverse	Reverse				Obverse	Reverse	Watermark
		10 möngö	45 × 90 mm	Pink	Soyombo Soyombo symbol The Soyombo symbol is a special character out of the Mongolian Soyombo script. It serves as a national symbol of Mongolia, to be found on the Flag of Mongolia, the Coat of arms of Mongolia, and on many other official documents.... , Archery	Archery	—	1993	Very rare in circulation. Abundant among collectors.
		20 möngö	45 × 90 mm	Yellow-brown	Soyombo Soyombo symbol The Soyombo symbol is a special character out of the Mongolian Soyombo script. It serves as a national symbol of Mongolia, to be found on the Flag of Mongolia, the Coat of arms of Mongolia, and on many other official documents.... , Wrestling	Wrestling
		50 möngö	45 × 90 mm	Green-cyan	Soyombo Soyombo symbol The Soyombo symbol is a special character out of the Mongolian Soyombo script. It serves as a national symbol of Mongolia, to be found on the Flag of Mongolia, the Coat of arms of Mongolia, and on many other official documents.... , Horse riding	Horse riding
http://www.mongolbank.mn/images/Bills/m1f.jpg	http://www.mongolbank.mn/images/Bills/m1b.jpg	1 tögrög ( neg )	115 × 57 mm	Yellow-brown	Lion Lion The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...	Soyombo Soyombo symbol The Soyombo symbol is a special character out of the Mongolian Soyombo script. It serves as a national symbol of Mongolia, to be found on the Flag of Mongolia, the Coat of arms of Mongolia, and on many other official documents....	Paiza Paiza Paiza or Gerege is a tablet of authority for the Mongol officials and envoys...			Genghis Khan Genghis Khan Genghis Khan , born Temujin and occasionally known by his temple name Taizu , was the founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death....
http://www.mongolbank.mn/images/Bills/m5f.jpg	http://www.mongolbank.mn/images/Bills/m5b.jpg	5 tögrög ( tavan )	120 × 60 mm	Orange	Sükhbaatar, Soyombo Soyombo symbol The Soyombo symbol is a special character out of the Mongolian Soyombo script. It serves as a national symbol of Mongolia, to be found on the Flag of Mongolia, the Coat of arms of Mongolia, and on many other official documents.... , Paiza Paiza Paiza or Gerege is a tablet of authority for the Mongol officials and envoys...	Mountainous landscape and horses eating grass	Rarely used anywhere but in banks
		10 tögrög ( arvan )	125 × 61 mm	Green			1993, 20023	The smallest commonly used note
		20 tögrög ( horin )	130 × 65 mm	Reddish purple
		50 tögrög ( tavin )	135 × 66 mm	Brown			1993, 20003
		100 tögrög ( zuun )	140 × 68 mm	Violet
http://www.mongolbank.mn/images/Bills/m500f.jpg	http://www.mongolbank.mn/images/Bills/m500b.jpg	500 tögrög ( tavan zuun )	145 × 70 mm	Green	Genghis Khan Genghis Khan Genghis Khan , born Temujin and occasionally known by his temple name Taizu , was the founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death.... , Soyombo Soyombo symbol The Soyombo symbol is a special character out of the Mongolian Soyombo script. It serves as a national symbol of Mongolia, to be found on the Flag of Mongolia, the Coat of arms of Mongolia, and on many other official documents.... , Paiza Paiza Paiza or Gerege is a tablet of authority for the Mongol officials and envoys...	Mongolian yurt Yurt A yurt is a portable, bent wood-framed dwelling structure traditionally used by Turkic nomads in the steppes of Central Asia. The structure comprises a crown or compression wheel usually steam bent, supported by roof ribs which are bent down at the end where they meet the lattice wall... s in motion	1993, 1997 20003, 20034
		1000 tögrög ( myangan )	150 × 72 mm	Blue			1993, 1997 20034
		5000 tögrög ( tavan myangan )	150 × 72 mm	Pink-purple		"Drinking Fountain" at Genghis Khan's court	1994, 20034
		10,000 tögrög ( arvan myangan )	150 × 72 mm	Orange			1995, 20024
		20,000 tögrög ( horin myangan )		Lime and purple		Nine White Banner Flag of the Mongols Banner of the Mongols refers to a variety of banners that the Mongols flew during the period of the Mongol Empire, some of which are still flown presently in Mongolia. In this context, a "banner" is a pole with circularly arranged horse or yak tails of varying colors arranged at the top...		2006

Remarks

1. Images shown are the earliest variations of each value
2. Issued dates are listed for up to 2003. It is known that there is a 2005 edition of 10 tögrög, but it is yet unclear whether or not it was the only value for the 2005 edition.
3. Lower value notes (10 ~ 500 tögrög) issued in 2000 and after have line-patterned color underprint on the entire note, where the previous edition had near-white solid color. But one exception to the rule is the 2000 edition of 500 tögrög.
4. High value notes (500 ~ 10,000 tögrög) issued in 2002 and after have a patch on the lower right hand side of obverse as an improved anti-counterfeit device, which was previously only available on the two highest values. The new patch is also more sophisticated than the ones in the 1990s. The two highest values also have their Soyombo symbol
   Soyombo symbol
   The Soyombo symbol is a special character out of the Mongolian Soyombo script. It serves as a national symbol of Mongolia, to be found on the Flag of Mongolia, the Coat of arms of Mongolia, and on many other official documents....
   
    upgraded to a hologram.

Purchasing power

• 5 tögrög: a piece of candy is used to make change of 5Tg
• 10 tögrög: a couple pieces of candy
• 15 tögrög: three pieces of candy
• 100 tögrög: a ride across town on a trolleybus in Ulaanbaatar
  Ulaanbaatar
  Ulan Bator or Ulaanbaatar is the capital and largest city of Mongolia. An independent municipality, the city is not part of any province, and its population as of 2008 is over one million....
  
  
• 200 tögrög: a ride across town on a regular bus in Ulaanbaatar
• 250 tögrög: a 250 ml bottle of coke from a supermarket
• 400 tögrög: average price of a bottle of water
• 700 tögrög: the cheapest meal at a tsainii gazar, or small restaurant
• 1500 tögrög: Average price of a pack of cigarettes
• 3000 tögrög: About what you pay for a Taxi ride across city center
• 10,000 tögrög a lodging at a tourist hostel in Ulaanbaatar

External links

• Banknotes of Mongolia, Bank of Mongolia
• Website at the Bank of Mongolia with history of Mongolian currency and pictures of tögrög