10 Shillings Capricorn - empty leaves

The self-declared Republic of Somaliland has issued its own coinage since the mid-1990s despite receiving no formal international recognition — the Bank of Somaliland operates independently of the Central Bank of Somalia in Mogadishu. This zodiac series, of which this Capricorn piece is part, was almost certainly struck by a European contract mint for collector distribution rather than domestic circulation; Somaliland's everyday economy runs predominantly on the Somaliland shilling in paper form.

The "empty leaves" designation distinguishes this die variant from issues where the decorative foliage elements are filled — a small but catalogued difference that affects collector completeness rather than monetary function.