50 Baisa - Qaboos National Day

Qaboos bin Said came to power in 1970 by deposing his own father, Said bin Taimur, in a bloodless palace coup backed by the British government, who had grown frustrated with the old sultan's deliberate isolation of Oman from modernization. National Day commemoratives under Qaboos were issued with some regularity, tying the mint program directly to the legitimacy of his rule rather than to any monetary necessity. This 2015 piece marks the 45th anniversary of his accession.