Somalia 1950 centesimo
This specimen was issued by Italy for her UN trust territory of Italian Somaliland. Somalia was divided by the British and Italians at the end of the nineteenth century. Mussolini's imperialist fantasies moved him to conquer neighboring Ethiopia in 1936, which conquest was reversed by a British occupation of Ethiopia and Somaliland in 1941. Somaliland was returned to Italy in 1950, which granted the area independence in 1960. A succession of military regimes followed until the complete collapse of government in the early 1990's. That unhappy condition persists to this day. This handsome elephant design was also used on accompanying five and ten centesimi.
Recorded mintage: 4,000,000.
Specification: copper, 21 mm diameter.
Catalog reference: KM 1.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
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