Egypt 1916-H 2 millemes

At the beginning of World War I, the Ottoman Empire allied itself with Germany. In order to assure the use of the Suez canal and other strategic interests, the British formally occupied Egypt and installed a pliant ruler (Sultan Hussein Kamel). Thus the issuance of Ottoman-style coinage ended and a new phase began. Denominations were now 'milliemes' and 'piastres' instead of qirshes and fractional qirshes, and for the first time, english lettering and numbers appeared on Egyptian coins.

The coin shown is a two millemes from the time of British occupation of Egypt. The obverse displays the name of Sultan Hussein Kamel, with the ascension date 1333 (1914 AD) at the base and the year of strike (AH 1335) split alongside the hole. The reverse has the denomination in both Arabic and English. The mintmark for the Heaton Mint (H) appears below the word MILLIEMES.

Recorded mintage: 300,000.

Specification: copper-nickel.

Catalog reference: KM 314.

Sources:

• Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
• Uslu, Kaan, Beyazit, M. Fatih, and Kara, Tuncay, Ottoman Empire Coins, Istanbul: Mas Matbaacilik A.S., 2007.

Link to:

• Egypt 1916 5 milliemes
• Egypt 1916-H 5 millemes
• Egypt 1916 10 milliemes
• 1916 2 piastres
• 1916 5 piastres
• Egypt 1916 10 piastres
• Egypt 1916 20 piastres
• Egypt 1917 20 piastres
• Coins and currency dated 1916
• return to coins of Egypt