Qatar's shift to nickel-plated steel for this denomination was driven by the same cost pressures that pushed Gulf states broadly toward cheaper base-metal coinage in the 2000s, as rising nickel and copper prices made traditional alloys economically impractical for high-volume circulation pieces. The magnetic property distinguishes it cleanly from earlier non-magnetic issues of the same type — KM#15 — which creates an identification shortcut useful when the two variants surface together.
Qatar's shift to nickel-plated steel for this denomination was driven by the same cost pressures that pushed Gulf states broadly toward cheaper base-metal coinage in the 2000s, as rising nickel and copper prices made traditional alloys economically impractical for high-volume circulation pieces. The magnetic property distinguishes it cleanly from earlier non-magnetic issues of the same type — KM#15 — which creates an identification shortcut useful when the two variants surface together.