The coup in question is Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's bloodless removal of Habib Bourguiba on November 7, 1987 — framed officially as a medical necessity after a panel of doctors declared the 84-year-old president mentally unfit to govern. Ben Ali's government made November 7th a national holiday and commemorated it aggressively through coinage, postage, and public architecture throughout his rule. These annual issues are less numismatic milestones than instruments of political self-promotion.
The series continued through the 1990s and into the 2000s, producing a new silver commemorative nearly every year until Ben Ali's own ouster in January 2011.
The coup in question is Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's bloodless removal of Habib Bourguiba on November 7, 1987 — framed officially as a medical necessity after a panel of doctors declared the 84-year-old president mentally unfit to govern. Ben Ali's government made November 7th a national holiday and commemorated it aggressively through coinage, postage, and public architecture throughout his rule. These annual issues are less numismatic milestones than instruments of political self-promotion.
The series continued through the 1990s and into the 2000s, producing a new silver commemorative nearly every year until Ben Ali's own ouster in January 2011.