50 Pounds 15th Hijrah Century, Copper-gilt Piedfort

The 15th Hijrah Century commemorative series was issued by the Bank of Sudan to mark the beginning of the 15th Islamic century, which opened in 1400 AH — corresponding to November 1979 in the Gregorian calendar. Sudan was among several Muslim-majority states that produced commemorative issues for this occasion, though few did so in piedfort format. A piedfort is struck on a blank of double or greater than standard thickness, requiring significantly higher die pressure and producing a piece intended entirely for collectors rather than circulation.

KM#P12 designates this as a pattern or piedfort in the Krause numbering, copper-gilt rather than solid gold — a cost-reduction measure common in Sudanese commemorative issues of this period, when the national economy was already straining under debt accumulated during the Nimeiry government's failed development programs of the mid-1970s.