Rare Silver Coin Sultanate of Zanzibar 1299 (1882)

Lot 1302 limit € 280

1 riyal, Sultanate of Zanzibar, Sultan Bargash ibn Said (1870-1888), 1299 (1882), approx. 27.24 g, D approx. 38 mm, av. Arabic writing between four blossoms (Allah, the Keeper, Sultan Barghash, son of Sultan Said), rv. Arabic writing between 3 blossoms (1 riyal, Saidian coinage, year 1299), the simple, calligraphically extremely sophisticated coin was minted under Sultan Bargash ibn Said in 1882 in an edition of only 60,000 pieces. The Maria Theresa thaler served as a model, the predominant trade coin in Islamic countries in the 19th century. The island of Zanzibar, which has belonged to Oman since the 18th century, was a center of the slave trade. It became independent as a separate sultanate in 1856 as a result of a succession dispute within the Oman Bu Said dynasty. Zanzibar became part of British East Africa in 1897 and is now part of Tanzania. (Source: Numismatic Society Bonner Münzfreunde eV - The special coin - September 2016)