Owner Comments:
Ethiopia - EE1936 (1943-1944) - 25 Cent, Assir Santeem KM #36 - Mintage: 30,000,000 (total from all mints)
These coins were designed by Gilroy Roberts were actually struck in 1952 and 1953 by the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, 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 year were:
1952........1,299,000
1953......28,701,000
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Total......30,000,000
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 crimped edge. These coins were struck with crude and refined edges, but I don't know which one this particular coin is. Another interesting characteristic is that these coins were struck with medallic rotation instead of the normal top to bottom coin rotation.
High grade, full red specimens are relatively plentiful, and this is not a rare coin by any means. This grade however is pretty good with only three graded higher by NGC. It is a nice example of this interesting historic coin, and I am pleased to add it to my collection.
Date acquired: 3/20/2016 (raw coin)
Date graded: 9/28/2016 (self submitted to NGC)
Rev. 9/28/2016