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Wendell Phillips, Qataban and Sheba, Maria Theresa Dollars, 1950-52

WillieBoyd2WillieBoyd2 Posts: 5,034 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited April 5, 2022 7:38AM in World & Ancient Coins Forum
I just finished reading Qataban and Sheba by Wendell Phillips, published in 1955.

The fuller title is Exploring the Ancient Kingdoms on the Biblical Spice Routes of Arabia.

He did not have much money but was able to talk people into putting up money for an archaeological
expedition to Yemen (South Arabia) in the early 1950's to look for the site of the legendary city of Marib,
the Queen of Sheba's capital.

His expedition made some significant discoveries but was attacked by tribesmen and had to leave the area.

Phillips then became friends with the Sultan of Muscat and Oman and received oil leases from him,
making Phillips a wealthy man.

He published the book Qataban and Sheba about his adventures in 1955.

Maria Theresa Thalers ("Dollars" in the book) were still being used in the early 1950's.


Among the unusual items unloaded were to gunny sacks weighing more than 150 pounds and
containing two thousand large silver coins stamped with the shining countenance of the
Empress Maria Theresa and the date 1780, although the had obviously been minted recently.

We had to carry them because in the interior of South Arabia the Maria Theresa dollar, or riyal,
was the only sizable coin accepted, despite the fact that the Indian rupees and annas were legal
in Aden and official in the Qu'aiti and Kathiri states.

The natives, except for those in the cities, still preferred the big and impressive M.T. dollar,
and did not really feel that they were getting money unless they saw the picture of the great
empress of a nation of which they had never heard.

The coin probably became current in Arabia by filtering down through Turkey long ago.
Its value fluctuates with the value of silver, and was worth about fifty cents American when we
were there, but the Bedouins of Hadhramaut and Beihan knew nothing of exchange rates.

They only that they wanted Maria Theresa, although for small change they accepted almost
any small coins--local buqshas or money from India or the East Indies.


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Wages were two-thirds of a Maria Theresa dollar per day for the men and half an M.T. dollar
for the boys--hardly exorbitant by C.I.O. standards but excellent pay for South Arabia.

In addition we paid small amounts as baksheesh, or rewards for the finding of valuable objects
such as inscriptions, pieces of pottery or metal, and anything of possible archaeological value...

It added enormously to Sandy Honeyman's bookkeeping, however, for small change was a
never-ending nuisance.

We used Arabian buqshas in seven different coin sizes--half buqshas, buqshas, two buqshas,
two and a half buqshas, four buqshas, five buqshas, and ten buqshas.
Forty buqshas equaled one Maria Theresa dollar, which was worth half an American dollar.

A few killings were straight business--murder for a price--for this profession exists in southern Arabia
as in more civilized parts of the world. In South Arabia, an assassin's fee may range from a few or
many thousand Maria Theresa dollars.

The price varies according to the personality and power of the victim, his standing, and the circumstances
of the murder.



Maria Theresa Dollars are also an item of clothing:

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Comments

  • lettowlettow Posts: 80 ✭✭✭
    Maria Theresa Thalers were still being used by Bedouins in Saudi Arabia when I was there in 1997.
  • LochNESSLochNESS Posts: 4,829 ✭✭✭
    Fascinating read, I'm sure. This is going on my library list!

    These were the much less-valuable modern re-strikes, no doubt.

    edit: just caught the line near the top where he states they had been minted recently. So he knew they weren't the originals. If I remember correctly, the giveaway is the "S.F." mark underneath miss T's bust.
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