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1 Riyal - Barghash
| Issuer | Zanzibar |
|---|---|
| Year | 1882 |
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| Currency | Ryal (1882-1908) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | الله سلطان سعيد بن برغش بن سلطان حفظه (Translation: Allah guards Sultan Sa'id bin Barghash bin Sultan) |
| Reverse description | The reverse presents a typographic design entirely in Arabic Naskh script, arranged in four horizontal lines across the field. The denomination 'Riyal' appears at the top, followed by the legend identifying the coin as the currency of the Sa'idiyya coinage, and below it the Hijri date 1299 in Eastern Arabic numerals. The word 'Aam' (year) appears at the bottom alongside a small floral ornament at the base, with the whole composition enclosed within a beaded border. |
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| Additional information |
Barghash bin Said ruled Zanzibar at the height of its commercial power, when the sultanate controlled the East African clove trade and much of the interior caravan network reaching Lake Tanganyika. This coinage was struck in Birmingham by Ralph Heaton & Sons under contract — Zanzibar had no mint of its own. The 1882 date places it just three years before the Berlin Conference redrew the region's political map without consulting a single African ruler.
KM#4 is the sole riyal type issued under Barghash, and the series was short-lived; his successor's coinage was overtaken almost immediately by British Imperial currency impositions.