Kuwaiti Memorial Coins Honor Pearling

Kuwaiti memorial coins honor pearling

Issuance of commemorative coins in Kuwait dates back to the 60s, some bearing pictures of the late Amir Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah and the national "boom," the locally-crafted wooden dhow that symbolizes the ancestors' trade and pearl-diving adventures. The first minted gold coin with the picture of the late Amir was issued in 1960, said Mohammad Abdul Hadi Jamal, a Kuwaiti researcher and writer, specialized in the national heritage.

Another one was issued in 1961. It was worth five dinars at the time and adorned with the term, "the Emirate of Kuwait," the word Kuwait in English on one side, and the date of the issuance on the other. The Central Bank of Kuwait (CB), founded on June 30, 1968, issued, on the 15th anniversary of the National Day, on Feb 25, 1976, a silver coin, worth two dinars, carrying the picture of Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, whose era witnessed the independence of Kuwait, along with a photo of another eminent
Amir, Sheikh Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah. The other side of the silver coin was engraved with a drawing depicting the gate of the old fence of Kuwait City, a sail ship and drilling at an oil well.

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