1/2 Qirsh - Abd al-Azīz Saudi Arabia, countermarked '65'

This piece belongs to a countermarking program carried out in AH 1365 (1946), in which existing circulation coinage was officially restruck with a date punch to extend its authorized use — a practical measure for a kingdom still consolidating its monetary infrastructure in the decades following unification. The Hejaz and Najd had operated separate coinage traditions before Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud brought them under a single authority in 1932, and supply gaps remained a persistent administrative problem well into the 1940s.

KM#29 countermarks are found in wildly varying strike quality, with the '65' punch frequently applied off-center.