2 Qirsh / 10 Halalāt - Fayṣal

Saudi Arabia's switch to copper-nickel for this denomination in the early 1970s coincided with the Kingdom's aggressive modernization of its monetary infrastructure under SAMA, established in 1952 but only fully operational as a coin-issuing authority by the late 1960s. The shift away from earlier cupro-nickel compositions reflected pressure to standardize coinage ahead of the oil-boom spending surge that would follow the 1973 embargo. Faisal's monetary reforms were inseparable from his broader effort to bring Saudi public finance under centralized state control, displacing the informal currency networks that had persisted in the Hejaz for decades.