1/4 Rial - Qaboos

Oman's decimal currency system, introduced in 1972, replaced the Gulf rupee and the old Maria Theresa thaler-based rial saidi at par with the new rial omani — a remarkably clean conversion that avoided the inflationary chaos seen in neighboring states during the same decade. The quarter rial sat at a genuinely useful purchasing increment in an economy that was, by 1980, only beginning to distribute oil revenues into ordinary commerce outside Muscat and Matrah.

The aluminium bronze alloy was selected partly for its resistance to the corrosive coastal humidity endemic to Gulf circulation.