Algeria's quarter-dinar was issued by the Banque d'Algérie during one of the most turbulent decades in the country's post-independence history — the 1990s civil conflict between the government and Islamist insurgents killed an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 people, yet small-denomination coinage continued circulating throughout. The aluminium-magnesium alloy was a deliberate cost-reduction choice as inflation eroded the dinar's purchasing power across the same period.
By the time production ended in 2011, the coin's face value had become essentially negligible in daily transactions.
Algeria's quarter-dinar was issued by the Banque d'Algérie during one of the most turbulent decades in the country's post-independence history — the 1990s civil conflict between the government and Islamist insurgents killed an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 people, yet small-denomination coinage continued circulating throughout. The aluminium-magnesium alloy was a deliberate cost-reduction choice as inflation eroded the dinar's purchasing power across the same period.
By the time production ended in 2011, the coin's face value had become essentially negligible in daily transactions.