5 Pounds Muhamed Abdel Wahab

Mohamed Abdel Wahab (1901–1991) was Egypt's most decorated composer and singer of the twentieth century, responsible in large part for modernizing Arabic music by introducing Western instruments — the electric guitar among them — into classical maqam structures. This coin was issued in the year of his death, almost certainly as an official commemoration. Egypt's commemorative gold program of the late 1980s and early 1990s frequently honored cultural figures alongside political ones, a deliberate shift in state messaging under Mubarak.

The .875 fineness places it in the traditional 21-karat standard long preferred across Egyptian and broader Near Eastern gold markets.