Eritrea declared independence from Ethiopia in May 1993 after a 30-year armed conflict, and among the first acts of the new state was issuing a series of commemorative coins — this piece among them — before a national currency had even been formally established. The series was produced for the international collector market, not domestic circulation, making "Eritrean coinage of 1993" something of a legal fiction in practical monetary terms.
Eritrea declared independence from Ethiopia in May 1993 after a 30-year armed conflict, and among the first acts of the new state was issuing a series of commemorative coins — this piece among them — before a national currency had even been formally established. The series was produced for the international collector market, not domestic circulation, making "Eritrean coinage of 1993" something of a legal fiction in practical monetary terms.