250 Shillings Caravel Explorer 'Nina'

Somalia's 1998 coinage program was a commercial venture in the truest sense — the Transitional National Government had virtually no functioning economy and certainly no monetary infrastructure, making these pieces collector products rather than circulating currency from the outset. The trimetallic construction was an expensive manufacturing choice that only makes sense when the buyer is a coin dealer, not a Mogadishu merchant.

The Niña, smallest of Columbus's three ships on the 1492 voyage, was actually named Santa Clara — "Niña" was a nickname derived from her owner, Juan Niño of Moguer.