Posted 12/19/2022 6:51 pm
Both designs are too crude to be genuine coins - this is a "fantasy replica", not entirely unlike the fantasy replicas coming out of China - except this one is presumably home-grown in the Red Sea / Horn of Africa region, where both the Ethiopian and Austrian coins were in use.
It was probably specifically made for mounting into jewellery, a common fate of the genuine coins. I suspect that genuine coins are getting harder to come by, with all the wars and turmoil in that region in the past few decades, so it wouldn't surprise me if local imitations are being made. Is there any sign on the edge of your piece that it was mounted? The marks on the rim of the obverse at 10 o'clock and 7 o'clock are all I can see pointing to that. East African coin jewellery tends to use multiple mount-marks.
It was probably specifically made for mounting into jewellery, a common fate of the genuine coins. I suspect that genuine coins are getting harder to come by, with all the wars and turmoil in that region in the past few decades, so it wouldn't surprise me if local imitations are being made. Is there any sign on the edge of your piece that it was mounted? The marks on the rim of the obverse at 10 o'clock and 7 o'clock are all I can see pointing to that. East African coin jewellery tends to use multiple mount-marks.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
