2 Laari - Muhammad Fareed Didi

Muhammad Fareed Didi ruled the Maldives as its last sultan before the country abolished the sultanate and declared a republic in 1968. This 1960 issue was struck during the twilight of that institution, though the sultanate had itself been briefly interrupted — a republic was declared in 1953 before being dissolved after just a few months following public opposition. The bronze coinage of this period was produced in quantities suited to the modest cash economy of a then-isolated archipelago whose primary trade remained dried fish and cowrie shells.