EGYPT (2 of 2)
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More recent coins of Egypt
“Re-coinage”
for Egypt – First the new 50 Piastres and 1 Pound types.
Sometimes a new coin type or series can take years to eventually
appear, particularly when one or more new coin denominations are to be
involved. Tourists seldom return from Egypt with more than just 2 or 3
coins. Egyptians seem to be very happy to use banknotes for what would
seem to be rather small denominations. Perhaps that is one main reason
why Egypt’s took so long to getting around to issuing the first of
their latest series of coins for general circulation. Some bi-metallic
news from “World Money Fair 2002”, reported in WBCC Newsmail 287 of
9-Feb-2002, was that Egypt would issue a bi-metallic coin of 50
Piastres sometime in 2002. It was at the end of March 2006 when I first
saw pictures of any new coin types. These were a 50 Piastres and a 1
Pound, the latter only being a bi-metallic type. These two types were
issued on 1st of June 2006. I got an example of each of these new types
in November 2006. Both pieces are dated 2005-1426.
Egypt 50 Piastres 2005-1426
Egypt 1 Pound 2005-1426
The 1 Pound has a mass of 8.5grams and a diameter of 25.0mm. The ring
part of this bi-metallic type is made from Copper-Nickel and the core
from Brass. The obverse includes denomination and country name/title
and the dating 2005-1426. On the reverse you can find Tutankhamen’s
gold mask on the core part of the coin and a decorative border to the
ring part. The edge of these coins is reeded. The portrait on this coin
would rather seem to be a match for that on an Egyptian collector coin,
a silver 5 Pounds of 1994-1413, type KM-793. I have as yet been unable
to confirm if there was any British Royal Mint involvement with the
coinage of 2005-1426. Note – one Egyptian government source suggests
that the “Brass” in these two circulation types is actually
Aluminium-Bronze.
“Re-coinage”
for Egypt – Secondly the new 5, 10, 25, 50 Piastres and 1 Pound types
in plated Steels.
The 2005/1426 dated coins of 50 Piastres and 1 Pound, between them
contain quite an amount of Nickel and Copper relative to the face value
of the coins themselves. On the Egypt’s Ministry of Finance website
http://www.mof.gov.eg/english
, use of the search function there with
the word “coins” (or similar) finds that in January 2007 the ministry
had realised that the coinage alloys, as used in the coins of 50
Piastres and of 1 Pound, needed to be changed due to “soaring metal
prices”.
In early 2008 a new date for each of the above types came to my
attention. These, each turned out to be a new sub-type. The 2007-1428
dated 50 Piastres is of reduced diameter (23mm) and is attracted to a
magnet, therefore determined to be Brass-plated-Steel. Both parts (core
and ring) of the 2007-1428 dated 1 Pound are attracted to a magnet.
From that fact and from the colouring this is determined to have a
Nickel-plated-Steel ring and Brass-plated-Steel core. The coins of
these new sub-types have a mass either the same or at least very
similar to each of their predecessors i.e. the 2005-1426 dated types.
The annual report of the British Royal Mint for 2007/2008 (the year
ending 31/March/2008), see
http://www.royalmint.com/web/reports/ar2007-08.pdf
as published
mid-2008 includes an image of the 2007-1428 dated Egyptian 1 Pound
coin. There have since been 2008-1429 dated pieces issued of these two
types.
The Duke of York's speech at the Egyptian-British Business Council
lunch, on the 14th January 2008 (see
http://www.thedukeofyork.org/Home/Speeches/speech_4.aspx
) made brief
mention of Egyptian coins. One small point in the speech being "The
Royal Mint has signed a three year contract with the Egyptian Mint to
supply coins to Egypt.". This was clarified in..
http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=9359
a report from September 2007 that mentions ... "British Royal Mint will
provide Egypt with 250-300 million coins as part of a contract to
develop and upgrade Egyptian coin production"
The annual report of the British Royal Mint for 2007/2008 (the year
ending 31/March/2008), see
http://www.royalmint.com/web/reports/ar2007-08.pdf
as published
mid-2008 includes an image of the 2007-1428 dated 1 Egyptian Pound
coin. This report mentions the Egypt order as being a “major” one.
Further the report details how the work for Egypt included not only the
supply of coins and coin-blanks but also the upgrade of the Egyptian
government’s minting facilty.
The annual report of the British Royal Mint for 2008/2009 (the year
ending 31/March/2009), see
http://www.royalmint.com/web/reports/ar2008-2009.pdf
as published
mid-2009 includes just one point relevant to Egypt:- “continuing to
supply the Egyptian Mint with coins and blanks for the nation’s
recoinage”. This continued work must have included (else since
included) the following three new Egyptian coins dated 2008-1429.
Egypt 5 Piastres 2008-1429
Egypt 10 Piastres 2008-1429
Egypt 25 Piastres 2008-1429
NOTE: All images on this page of whole coins scaled at approximately
250dpi.
Further
Developments
Since those first dates of the 5 new coins of Egypt’s recent
“re-coinage” and the first date for each of the 50 Piastres and 1 Pound
in new materials - there have been 25 Piastres dated 2010/1431 issued
as well as both 50 Piastres and 1 Pound coins with each of the dates
2008/1429 and 2010/1431. (There may just be something else out there by
now – who knows!) That could have been the end of this story for now –
however I have come across a few notable design changes amongst the
various date of the 50 Piastres.
The changes to material and diameter after the 2005/1426 dated issue
have already been mentioned. It is no surprise to see a few other
differences for these larger coins. Of particular note is that for the
2007/1428 issue there are two clear varieties – date size (both dates)
and border teeth count (both sides) are the main distinguishing
features for these. Here are images to illustrate the two date sizes –
looking just at one of the two dates concerned.
Image of dating for H 1428 - showing small date numerals,
centre line of Arabic "8" over gap in border teeth and large Arabic
letter "ha" next to the Arabic "1"
Image of dating for H 1428 - showing large date numerals,
centre line of Arabic "8" coinciding with a border tooth and small
Arabic letter "ha" next to the Arabic "1"
The final point of note regarding the details in the table is that for
one of the two main varieties of the 2007/1428 dated 50 Piastres I have
come across three different slight varieties regarding “die filling”
with the Arabic letter “mim” next to the Arabic “20” in the date. These
slight varieties are as illustrated below:-
Partial image of dating for M 2007 - showing Arabic letter "mim" next
to the Arabic "20" - where loop of "mim" is "empty"
Partial image of dating for M 2007 - showing Arabic letter "mim"
next to the Arabic "20" - where loop of "mim" is "filled flat"
Partial image of dating for M 2007 - showing Arabic letter "mim"
next to the Arabic "20" - where loop of "mim" is "filled and with a
lump on top"
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