Egypt 1917 2 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 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 piastres 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.

Recorded mintage: 4,461,000.

Specification: 2.80 g, 0.833 fine silver.

Catalog reference: KM 317.1.

Sources:

• Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.

Link to:

• 1916 2 piastres
• Egypt 1917 1/2 millieme
• Egypt 1917 millieme
• Egypt 1917-H millieme
• Egypt 1917 2 milliemes
• Egypt 1917-H 2 milliemes
• Egypt 1917 5 milliemes
• Egypt 1917-H 5 milliemes
• Egypt 1917-H 10 milliemes
• Egypt 1917-KN 10 milliemes
• Egypt 1917-H 2 piastres
• Egypt 1917-H 5 piastres
• Egypt 1917 10 piastres
• Egypt 1917-H 10 piastres
• Egypt 1917 20 piastres
• Coins and currency dated 1917
• return to coins of Egypt