Owner Comments:
Ethiopia - EE1936 (1943-1944) - 1 Cent, Ande Santeem KM #32 - Mintage: 20,000,000 (total from all mints)
These coins were designed by Gilroy Roberts and were struck in 1944 and 1945 by the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia and from 1944-1975 in Birmingham and London, all with the same Amharic date of EE1936. The Amharic date plus eight results in the A.D. date of 1944. The actual mintages by the Philadelphia Mint are as follows:
1944......3,000,000
1945....12,000,000
-------------------------
Total....15,000,000
Based on the numbers above, the odds are 75% that this particular coin was actually minted by the Philadelphia Mint since there is no way to distinguish coins minted by each mint.
The obverse shows a bust of Haile Selassie I facing left with the date below, and the reverse is a crowned lion facing right with his right foreleg raised holding a ribboned cross with the denomination below. It is a bronze coin (95% copper, 5% zinc) with a plain edge.
With a cumulative mintage of 20 million, high grade, full red specimens abound, and this is not a rare coin by any means. This grade is pretty average within the NGC population. It is a nice example of this interesting historic coin, and I am pleased to add it to my collection.
Date acquired: 12/17/2014 (Already graded by NGC)
Rev. 5/13/2016