Egypt, 1 piastre, 1984 (1404 AH)

Here’s another coin I had to look up.

Egypt, 1 piastre, 1984 (AH 1404) (KM#553.1)

This is my second Egyptian coin from the bag; the first being a 5 piastre coin on January 20th. For both denominations, two varieties were struck, once with the Islamic date on the left, and once with the Gregorian date on the left. Perhaps this is done by the Egyptian government in order to show lack of official favoritism for one religion or the other. This coin’s mintage level is unreported, but it is demonetized. And for good reason, since it’s worth 0.17 cents USD. It would take six of these to equal a US penny.

Metal Aluminium-bronze
Weight 1.2 g
Diameter 18 mm
Thickness 0.1 mm
Shape Round
Demonetized yes

Egypt, 5 piastres, 1984

This coin is the first one I didn’t recognize immediately and had to look it up, though the pyramids depicted on it were a dead giveaway about the country of origin.

Egypt, 5 piastres, 1984 (KM #555.1)

All of the writing on this coin is in Arabic, but the Great Pyramids on it tell me its from Egypt. Over the years I’ve taught myself how to read Arab numerals, and this coin gives both the Christian year of 1984 AD as well as the Muslim date of 1404 AH. (The Muslim calendar lags our own by approximately 580 years, starting at the time of Muhammad’s travel between Mecca and Medina in the 6th Century.) This coin is worth 5 piastres, or 0.05 Egyptian pounds. That’s about 0.86 cents USD, not even one penny, and is probably more valuable for being made of brass.

Metal Aluminium-bronze
Weight 4.9 g
Diameter 21 mm
Thickness 1.6 mm
Shape Round
Orientation Medal alignment

In other coin news, I found my first 2010 Yosemite quarter last night, only the second 2010 quarter I’ve found in the wild.