2 Bese - Victor Emmanuel III

Italian Somaliland maintained a separate colonial coinage distinct from Eritrea and Libya, administered through the Benadir Company until Rome assumed direct control in 1908 — just before this denomination entered circulation. The bese was a subdivision calibrated to local trading conventions rather than imported whole from the lira system, an acknowledgment that the Horn of Africa commerce operated on its own terms.

The long production window spanning fifteen years masks significant gaps in actual striking; many dates within the 1909–1924 range were minted in very small quantities at Rome's Zecca, and several are genuinely scarce in any grade.