Shamsuddeen III ruled the Maldives as Sultan under British protection, and coinage of this period was struck to satisfy the Resident Commissioner's push for a standardized currency across the atolls, where cowrie shells had served as the dominant small exchange medium well into the late nineteenth century. The 1913 bronze issues represent the transitional moment when that system was being formally displaced.
KM#42 is among the more obscure entries in Maldivian numismatics, with limited documentation on where these pieces were physically struck — almost certainly contracted out, as the islands had no mint of their own.
Shamsuddeen III ruled the Maldives as Sultan under British protection, and coinage of this period was struck to satisfy the Resident Commissioner's push for a standardized currency across the atolls, where cowrie shells had served as the dominant small exchange medium well into the late nineteenth century. The 1913 bronze issues represent the transitional moment when that system was being formally displaced.
KM#42 is among the more obscure entries in Maldivian numismatics, with limited documentation on where these pieces were physically struck — almost certainly contracted out, as the islands had no mint of their own.