This caught my eye...

Here is an article on the origins and/or mythology of the blue or sky wolf (kok bory)

google proto-turks kok bori

and look for The Problems of the Mythological Personages in the Ancient Turkic Literature


doesn't have anything about gold that I can see, though

 

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Thank you for the lead! I'm now reading through that document. You're correct that there does not seem to be any reference to gold. If anything, it seems like it would have made more sense to make the gold part a blue color.

Here are a few interesting snippets that I found:

"In fact it is more likely that for centuries, awareness of the family tree of ancestors has been a phenomenon peculiar to the Turkic-speaking peoples of Central Asia. They consider themselves as descendants of one animal which was their ancestor. [...] the Mongols –descendants of a blue wolf and a deer; the Teles people – descendants of a wolf and a daughter of the king of the Huns; Turks say they descended from a she- wolf and prince of the Huns."

"Having looked at Kokbory (Blue Wolf) in Turkic mythology, it is consedered to be one of the sacred concepts. Turks call the wolf “bory” (in Mongolian – shino / chinno). Ancient Turks called the wolf the “Blue kurt” as well. Kok (which means blue) is of blue color, blue sky. The Turkic “kurt” is a root of the Kazakh word “kurtylu”. It means that “Blue Wolf”, that was sent by blue skies and saved Turkic tribes from death, is a specially revered and sacred animal” (Gumilyov, 1999, pp. 480-481)."

 

It is interesting, yet tied to an area of study that seems pretty much not well written about, or if it is, maybe in some more 'obscure', compared to the world's major languages. And my first thought is maybe this is all just modernistic stylization , based on nothing but some fanciful designer....to make the coin perhaps more desirable.

 

It certainly appears to be a topic that doesn't have much information in English. With Kazakhstan being under Soviet control for many years, I also wonder how much history and culture was lost in the communist era.

And I agree with you that the gold is most likely a modern addition to increase interest in the coin.

 

The only thing I saw mentioned for snippet views, so hard to see if it gives more info, was that when the wolf head was on a pole, it might be a golden one. But that makes sense, regardless of what totem animal might be a pole-topper.