Thaler counterstamped Maria Theresa

The Maria Theresa Thaler, though frozen at its 1780 date by imperial decree, became the dominant trade currency across the Red Sea and Horn of Africa after merchants and Arab traders refused to accept any substitute. Obock, the tiny French colonial foothold that preceded Djibouti, applied its own counterstamp to assert fiscal authority over coins already circulating freely before France arrived. The counterstamp changed nothing about the coin's acceptance — traders in Tadjoura and Zeila cared about the silver content, not the colonial mark.