25 Pounds OAU, Brass Essai

Produced for the 1978 summit of the Organisation of African Unity held in Khartoum, this essai was struck as a pattern or proof-of-concept piece rather than for circulation. Sudan hosted the OAU that year under Nimeiry's government, which was actively courting both Arab League investment and pan-African solidarity simultaneously — an awkward diplomatic balance that defined Sudanese foreign policy through the late 1970s. Essais of this type were typically submitted to the issuing authority for approval; surviving examples reached collectors through the Paris trade.