20 Milliemes Cairo Agriculture Fair

Issued to commemorate the Cairo International Agriculture and Industrial Exhibition of 1958, this piece appeared during Egypt's first full year as the United Arab Republic following the union with Syria in February of that year. Nasser's government used such exhibitions and their commemorative coins as instruments of economic nationalism, signaling industrial and agricultural self-sufficiency to a domestic audience still adjusting to the post-monarchical order.

The aluminium bronze alloy was a deliberate choice for Egyptian commemoratives of this period, offering durability and a gold-like appearance at minimal cost — appropriate for a republic conspicuously distancing itself from royal gold.