5 Cents Type 1 coat of arms, solid value number

Cyprus joined the European Monetary System in 1992, but this coin predates that shift — struck when the pound remained fully independent and the island's partition, formalized after the Turkish military intervention of 1974, had already severed the northern third of the territory from Nicosia's monetary authority. The Central Bank was, in practical terms, issuing currency for a truncated state.

The KM#55.1 designation distinguishes this from the later 55.2 type, where the value numeral was given an outline treatment. The solid numeral variant ran from 1980 through the mid-1980s before the design modification was introduced.