The Europeanisation of Arab coins

[<k>]

Bahrain's coins of 1965.  The numerals are shown in standard Arabic style.



Bahrain's coins of 1992, reverse.  The numerals are also shown now in Western style.



The years of the two eras are also now shown in Western style numerals.

[<k>]

The Europeanisation of Qatari coins over the years.

[<k>]

Some Omani coins up to 1997.



Omani coins of 1999 that include the Christian era year in Arab-style numerals.



The Omani coins of 2020 show the denominations in European-style numerals.

The word BAISA is also shown.

[<k>]

Syrian 25 pounds coin of 1996.



Syrian 25 pounds coin of 2003.

[<k>]

The old Saudi coins were meaningless to Western eyes.






Saudi Arabian coins with images, Western-style numerals, and words in English.

[CopperCoin]

Omani coins of 1999 that include the Christian era year in Western numerals.

Nice overview. But actually the "1999" is not in western numerals, it's the Arabic-indian way to write. Here to compare:
1999
١٩٩٩

[<k>]

Now I am confused. Why did they use the Christian era symbol next to that? India is not a Christian country. Maybe the Omanis themselves got confused and used the wrong numerals?

[CopperCoin]

Maybe I did not express myself correctly, that might happen. To clarify:
The arabic-indian numerals are those used in Arabic countries (but not in India): ١٢٣٤٥٦٧٨٩٠
The european numerals are also called arabic numbers to distinguish them from Roman numerals: 1234567890

On the coin they used the Arabic-indian numerals for the year in christian calendar (1999) and added the letter "m" "م" for ميلادي=Christian
For the year in muslim calendar (1420) in this case they also used the Arabic indian numerals (١٤٢٠) and added the letter "h" "هـ" for هجري=hijri

[<k>]

I see. So it was just a coincidence that 1999 in Arabic-Indian numerals looked sufficiently like Western numerals that we Westerners could read them. It is a confusing subject, because 1234567890 are NOT Roman numerals. They are derived from Arabic numerals. MCMXCIX = 1999 in Roman numerals. 

[quaziright]

Arabic numerals are derived from Indian numerals and in the Arab world are referred as such.
The Roman numeral system was obviously lacking in almost every practical way and so were for the most part dumped on the way side

[quaziright]

What surprised me on Saudi coins were that they dared put real to life portraits of their kings on the coins which is usually frowned on in the wahhabi brand of Islam. Goes to show how things have changed under their (not so) new de-facto ruler