1/2 Rial - Qaboos Al Bu Said Dynasty

Issued to mark the 24th National Day of Oman, this coin belongs to a commemorative program the Central Bank launched in the early 1990s to document infrastructure and modernization achievements under Sultan Qaboos bin Said, who had seized power from his father in a bloodless palace coup in 1970. Oman in 1994 was still consolidating the oil-revenue-driven transformation that had, within a single generation, converted a largely medieval economy into a functioning modern state.

The .925 silver specification follows the standard adopted for Omani commemoratives of this decade, struck at the Royal Mint in the United Kingdom under contract.