Egypt 1916 100 piastres
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 issue 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 100 piastres (gold) from the time of British occupation of Egypt. The obverse displays the name of Sultan Hussein Kamel bounded by a wreath, with the ascension date 1333 (1914 AD) at the base. The reverse has the denomination in both Arabic and English (it is noteworthy that the Arabic denomination still translates as 'qirsh'). The year of strike is shown in both Hijra and Gregorian dates. The specimen pictured was sold by Dr. Busso Peus Nachfolger in auction #403 (April 2011), lot 1527. It sold for approximately $513. The description reads: "Ägypten Hussein Kamil, Sultan 100 Piaster 1916. Vorzüglich (Egypt, Hussein Kamel, 1916 100 piastres, extremely fine.)"
Recorded mintage: 10,000.
Specification: 8.50 g, 0.875 fine gold, 0.2391 AGW, this specimen 8.53 grams.
Catalog reference: KM 324, Fr-99 (formerly Fr-24).
- Friedberg, Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg, Gold Coins of the World, From Ancient Times to the Present, 9th ed., Clifton, NJ: Coin and Currency Institute, 2017.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
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