50 Santeem - Hailé Selassié I

This issue was struck at the Philadelphia Mint under a wartime contract — Ethiopia lacked domestic minting capacity, and the United States Mint produced the entire series on Haile Selassie's behalf following the restoration of his rule after Italian occupation ended in 1941. The coins bear Ethiopian Era dates, which accounts for the apparent 1944–1945 discrepancy with the Gregorian calendar.

The .800 fine silver specification mirrors the standard then used for many colonial and semi-colonial issues of the period, balancing durability against metal cost.