Okay, who's our resident expert on Abyssinian coinage?

satootoko

On page 772 of the 30th Ed., Krause pictures three early 19th Century Kingdom of Abyssinia coins with a common obverse. The two smaller denominations (KM#12 & KM#3) share a reverse, which to my eyes looks like this one:


An on-line auction house has a coin in it's upcoming auction with the common obverse, but a reverse with the lion's other front leg raised, and a different style of banner, which matchs Krause's illustration of the smaller denominations. They had the coin listed without any dimensions and I e-mailed them to ask about weight and diameter, to see if it was the 1.4g Gersh, or the 7.1g 1/4 Birr, thinking I might consider adding another country to my one-per. Their response was 28g, and <40mm, all of which matches Krause's description of the 1 Birr with the different reverse (KM#19).

The inscriptions - as far as I can tell from the crappy auction photo and the terrible Krause pictures - are the same.

Any thoughts?

BTW the auction is listed as "Chinese Silver", probably because the obverse features a profile wearing a crown that bears a faint resemblence to a Chinese skullcap.

kuhli

The reverse for the 1 birr (KM#19) is different from the gersh (KM#12) and the ¼ birr (KM#3).

According to the 29th edition (2002):

for KM#12 and KM#3 "Rev: Lion's left foreleg raised"

for KM#19 "Rev: Lion's right foreleg raise"

and the banner looks more like an un-tied bow, with 2 pieces hanging off.

kuhli

BTW, the portrait on the obverse is slightly different, too. Head is more upright, as opposed to being tilted back on the 2 lower denominations.

Askari

From what I remember being told by Dennis Gill -- who wrote the most-up-to-date book on Ethiopian/Abyssinian coinage -- there are a lot of varieties unlisted by Krause. I doubt that's changed much since he told me.

newsman

The birr, 1/2 birr, 1/4 birr and gersh (1/20) birr were all made both with the lion's left foreleg raised (the first type, as pictured) and the lion's right foreleg raised, though some types are rare for some denominations. The 1/8 birr was only made in one type, I think, though I don't have my Krause here to confirm it.

The only way to tell the difference in the denomination without measuring the coin is in the Amharic writing on the bottom of the reverse under the lion. The coin pictured is a 1 birr.

newsman

Here's a birr with the right foreleg raised. Note that it's a completely different design:

satootoko

Thanks all for the information and guidance.

I guess the answer to the thread title is Newsman.

The picture he posted is the same as the one in Krause, both the 30th, and the 19th Century 3rd; neither of which mentions the possibility of reverse varieties

Mark - just another reminder of the imperfection of Krause.

newsman

Roy:

Here's the reverse of a gersh for comparison. You'll see that under the lion, there is a single character (the number 1) and a second group of characters (the word "gersh"), whereas the birr has a set of three characters, then two. Also, I would note that the first reverse (left leg up) has beaded denticles on the border, while the second is more ornamental.