BIRR: COIN OF ETHIOPIA
1 birr, 2010: Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Date on coin: 2002 by the Ethiopian calendar (፳፻፪: Amharic) = 2010 (Gregorian calendar).
1 Birr.
፩ ብር: 1 birr.
አንድ ብር: one birr.
The denomination of the coin is indicated in both English and Amharic languages (in the Amharic, the numerical designation of the denomination is indicated by both a number /፩ — 1/ and the letters /አንድ — one/).
Balance scale (weighing scale).
ኢትዮጵያ: Ethiopia.
፳፻፪: 2002.
Stylised roaring lion ("Panthera leo melanochaita" — lion subspecies in Southern and East Africa) as symbol of Ethiopia.
Royal Canadian Mint (Winnipeg, Canada).
Mintage: 416.000.000.
- Bimetallic — brass plated steel centre in nickel plated steel ring: 27 mm - 6.81 g
- Reference price: 2$
COIN BIRR — WHERE & WHEN (coins catalog: by names & emitents)
- ETHIOPIA, 1896-... (Ethiopian Empire + Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia): birr = 100 santeem (earlier: 100 matona, 20 gersh)
BIRR as coin name.
Birr — coin and modern monetary unit of Ethiopia (an African country known until 1931 as Abyssinia). The Ethiopian national currency consists of 100 santeem.
The Ethiopian birr was introduced in 1976 as official currency, although the term was used to refer to money on the territory of the state long before that: earlier, the term "birr" was used by local residents to refer to Ethiopian dollars, and before that — to thalers. At the beginning of the 20th century on Abyssinian banknotes, the name of the currency already was indicated in Amharic as birr.
After the death of Emperor Haile Selassie and the proclamation of the Republic in 1976, a monetary reform took place, the result of which was the introduction of a formally new currency — the birr. Initially, only small exchange coins were minted — santeems (or cents), but after a year commemorative birr (mainly silver and gold coins) appeared. Circulating coins of this denomination have been minted since 2010 (although many numismatic catalogs consider Ethiopian coins of the late 19th century to be the earliest birr coins).
The name of the coin birr means "silver" in Amharic (more precisely, the word is translated as "to be white" in the local ancient Geʽez language). Earlier, in the territory of modern Ethiopia, the thalers of Maria Theresa and similar foreign large silver coins, which were extremely common there at the time, were called birr.
