1/4 Piastre - Edward VII

Cyprus came under British administration in 1878 as part of a deal struck at the Congress of Berlin, with Britain paying the Ottoman sultan an annual tribute in exchange for using the island as a strategic base against Russian expansion. The piastre denomination inherited from Ottoman coinage was retained deliberately — abrupt monetary change being administratively inconvenient in a population that was still largely Greek and Turkish-speaking. Edward VII's issues for Cyprus were struck at the Royal Mint, London, and saw only modest circulation given the island's limited commercial economy at the time.