Catalog
Indian Rupee counterstamped William IV
| Issuer | Obock Territory (1862-1896) |
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| Year | 1892-1914 |
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| Currency | Indian Rupee (1885-1943) |
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| Obverse description | Bare head effigy of King William IV facing right, occupying the central field of the coin. Superimposed upon the portrait is a counterstamp applied by Abd al-Latif, a silver merchant operating in Djibouti, consisting of an Arabic legend struck in an oval or cartouche format reading 'Abd Latif Sane'a al-Fiddah bi Jibuti' (Abd al-Latif, Silversmith of Djibouti). The host coin carries the Latin legend WILLIAM IIII KING along the periphery. |
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| Obverse lettering | WILLIAM IIII KING عبد لطيف صانع الفضَّة بجيبوتي (Translation: Abd al-Latif Silver Maker in Djibouti) |
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| Additional information |
Obock was a French-controlled coaling station on the Gulf of Tadjoura, and its monetary arrangements were improvised at best. Rather than striking purpose-made coinage, authorities counterstamped circulating Indian rupees — specifically William IV issues, which by the 1890s were already decades old and officially demonetized in British India following the Currency Act of 1876. The "O" counterstamp applied to these pieces gave French colonial sanction to coins that had effectively been retired from their original monetary role.
The territory itself was superseded by the colony of French Somaliland in 1896, making the window for legitimate issue quite narrow.