Catalog
Talari - Haile Selassie I
| Issuer | Ethiopia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1931 |
| Type | Fantasy coin |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The crowned Lion of Judah passant left, wearing an imperial crown and grasping an upright sceptre or spear in its right forepaw, with its elaborately curled tail arching over its back. A six-pointed Star of David appears in the lower field beneath the lion, which stands on a ground line. A Ge'ez legend encircles the design within a beaded border, with additional inscription in the exergue below. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Reeded |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The 1931 Ethiopian talari was issued in the third year of Haile Selassie's reign, shortly after his coronation in November 1930 — an event attended by foreign dignitaries including Evelyn Waugh, whose sardonic dispatches helped introduce the emperor to a global readership. The coin was struck to assert imperial continuity with the Maria Theresa thaler tradition that had dominated Ethiopian commerce for over a century, while simultaneously projecting a modernizing dynastic image.
Catalogued under the X# prefix, indicating a non-circulating or pattern-adjacent issue rather than a mainstream circulation strike. Struck at a European mint, almost certainly in small quantities.