A penny (officially a “One Mil”) from Mandate Palestine, struck in 1927. Arabic, English, Hebrew.
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Penny from British Mandate Palestine
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July 24, 2014 12:54 a.m.
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A century later, and we’re still dealing with the aftermath of World War I.
Why is there lettering in three languages, but numerals in only 2? Because the world uses Arabic numerals! (Even in Israel today. And China and Japan.)
Read Lawrence in Arabia by Scott Anderson (2013) - excellent read and view behind the curtain of British Palestine at its conception.
For those who are wondering: the Arabic reads “Filastin”; the Hebrew reads “Palestina (EY),” where the EY in parentheses stands for Eretz Yisrael, that is, Land of Israel.
Also, the date is given in European “Arabic numerals” and in actual Arabic numerals, which as you can see are almost identical.
Simple but still beautiful in its design and the time-worn patina. What’s on the obverse side?
Our new US pennies and nickels are the ugliest coins I’ve ever seen and might as well have been minted on plastic.