1 Dollar Lanner falcon

Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after a thirty-year armed struggle, and the Bank of Eritrea was established almost immediately to assert financial independence from the Ethiopian birr. This dollar series, issued three years into statehood, was among the first nationally identified coinage the country produced — struck not domestically but almost certainly abroad, as Eritrea had no mint of its own.

The lanner falcon breeds in the Horn of Africa and was a deliberate choice for a young nation selecting fauna with genuine regional presence rather than borrowed symbolism.