1 Mil

Cyprus gained independence from Britain in 1960, and the decimal coinage introduced shortly after replaced the pound-shilling-pence system with a clean 1000-mil pound. The mil was always a token denomination — by the late 1960s it could buy essentially nothing on its own — but the series was maintained for accounting purposes until decimalization pressures made even that rationale difficult to defend.

The aluminium-magnesium alloy was a deliberate choice for low-value coins across many newly independent states in this period, minimizing metal cost on denominations where production expense would otherwise exceed face value.