1/2 Birr - Zauditu Pattern

Zauditu, Empress of Ethiopia from 1916 to 1930, was the first woman to rule Ethiopia in her own right — a fact that made her coinage politically charged from the outset. This pattern was never approved for circulation, almost certainly because the conservative ecclesiastical establishment resisted imagery associated with female sovereignty on everyday currency. Gold patterns of this type were almost certainly struck for presentation or archival purposes, not distribution.

X#5 places it firmly in the unlisted pattern category, and surviving examples are exceptionally rare in any condition.