1 Birr - Zauditu Essai

Zauditu, empress from 1916 to 1930, was the first woman to rule Ethiopia in her own right — not as regent, not as consort. This essai was struck in anticipation of a coinage reform that never fully materialized under her reign; the birr denomination remained tied to the Maria Theresa thaler in everyday commerce far longer than reformers intended. Pattern pieces of this type are extraordinarily rare, with confirmed examples numbering in the single digits.