The Currency Board of Muscat and Oman had existed since 1959, replacing the Indian rupee with the Rial Saidi — a currency that itself had a remarkably short lifespan. By late 1970, Sultan Qaboos had deposed his father Said bin Taimur in a palace coup and set about modernizing the state; the entire Rial Saidi series was withdrawn and replaced by the Rial Omani within a few years, making these notes among the last issued under the old political order.
Bradbury Wilkinson printed the series at New Malden, as they did for dozens of colonial and post-colonial currency boards across the sterling area. The 1970 date places this note right at the political hinge point.
The Currency Board of Muscat and Oman had existed since 1959, replacing the Indian rupee with the Rial Saidi — a currency that itself had a remarkably short lifespan. By late 1970, Sultan Qaboos had deposed his father Said bin Taimur in a palace coup and set about modernizing the state; the entire Rial Saidi series was withdrawn and replaced by the Rial Omani within a few years, making these notes among the last issued under the old political order.
Bradbury Wilkinson printed the series at New Malden, as they did for dozens of colonial and post-colonial currency boards across the sterling area. The 1970 date places this note right at the political hinge point.