Ethiopia - Minted in the U.S.A.
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Updated:
12/16/2025
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There are seven coins in this set dated EE1936 which were minted by the U.S. Mint for circulation in Ethiopia. All of the coins have the same obverse and reverse designs by Gilroy Roberts. Roberts, who served as the ninth Chief Engraver of the United States Mint from 1948 until 1964, is most famous for his design for the obverse of the Kennedy Half Dollar. The obverse shows a bust of Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974, facing left with the date below, and the reverse is the Lion of Juda facing right with his dexter (right) foreleg raised holding a ribboned cross with the denomination below.
Although these coins were struck sporadically over a period of 31 years beginning in 1944, all are dated Julian1936 (commonly specified as EE1936) using the Amheric numbering system. Ethiopia uses the Julian calendar, which is 7 years, 8 months behind the Gregorian date. The Ethiopian year begins on September 11 of the Gregorian year, so the date of 1936 is either 7 or 8 years older. In this case, the earliest year these coins were minted was 1944, so 8 is added to the Julian date. When looking at any of these coins, the date below the bust on the obverse appears to contain five digits. This is because the Amharic number system goes 1-9, followed by multiples of 10 (10, 20, 30, 40, etc) each represented by a singe Amheric character. The extra digit, which is in the middle, is a 100 multiplier and applies to the two digits preceding it. The Amheric digits in the order seen on the coins translate to Arabic as follows:
10 . 9 . 100 . 30 . 6
The applicable formula to convert this to an Arabic number is (10+9)*100 + (30+6) = 1900 + 36 = 1936.
The one, five, and ten cent coins dated EE1936 were also minted by the Royal Mint of England and are indistinguishable from those minted by the Philadelphia mint. The 25 and 50 cent coins were only minted by the U.S. Mint. Actual mintages of each coin by the two mints are detailed in the individual coin descriptions. There is also a table detailing the mintages of each denomination in my custom set description: https://coins.www.collectors-society.com/WCM/CoinCustomSetView.aspx?s=29851
My interest in Ethiopian coins only extends to those minted by the U.S. Mint, so for my purposes, this set is complete.
Rev 5/4/2021
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Ethiopia - Minted in the U.S.A.
By coin928
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