1 Rial - Qaboos 26th National Day, Al Jalbout

Issued to mark the 26th National Day on 18 November 1996, commemorating Oman's independence and Sultan Qaboos bin Said's accession following the 1970 palace coup in which he deposed his father, Said bin Taimur. The Al Jalbout — a traditional Omani sailing vessel of the dhow family — was a deliberate choice for a Gulf state whose pre-oil economy was built almost entirely on maritime trade across the Arabian Sea and into East Africa.

The .925 silver specification and 28.28g weight place this squarely in the global commemorative format established by the 1964 Tokyo Olympics issues and adopted almost universally thereafter.