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250 Shillings Roman Merchant Ship
| Issuer | Republic of Somalia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1998 |
| Type | Non-circulating coin |
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| Obverse description | The Somali national coat of arms occupies the central field, depicting a heraldic shield with horizontal stripes and a five-pointed star at its centre, supported on either side by two leopards rampant. Crossed palm fronds appear below the shield as a base element. The legend 'REPUBLIC OF SOMALIA' arcs along the upper periphery, while the denomination '250 SHILLINGS' is inscribed along the lower arc. The design is framed by a beaded border and struck to a deeply mirrored proof finish. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | A HISTORY OF WORLD SHIPPING ROMAN MERCHANT SHIP AD 190 · 1998 · |
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| Additional information |
Somalia's 1990s commemorative silver program was largely a foreign-licensed operation — the Somali government, functionally collapsed after 1991, lent its name and nominal authority to coin issues contracted through European distributors, primarily for the collector market. The actual connection between these pieces and any functioning Somali treasury was essentially administrative.
The Roman merchant ship selected for this series — the broad-beamed *corbita* type — was the commercial workhorse of Mediterranean trade routes, carrying grain from Egypt and North Africa to Rome. That Somalia, a nation with its own ancient maritime trading history along the Indian Ocean coast, issued a coin honoring Roman rather than Swahili or Somali seafaring tells you everything about who was actually choosing these subjects.