Octagonal Lebanon Coin

Click on the images above to enlarge them in a pop-up box.

In the previous post, I highlighted odd-shaped coins from five Asian countries. In this post, however, I wanted to focus on the only octagonal coin from Asia in my collection (as of the time I am posting this). The Middle East country of LEBANON, located east of the Mediterranean Sea, north of Israel, and west of Syria, issued an octagonal 50 Livres coin inscribed with the year 1996. The points (not the sides) of the coin are oriented north, south, east, and west (and NE, NW, SE, SW). In the top left image, the obverse of this coin depicts an Arabic denomination and year, among other text. The Arabic writing above the inner circle translates to Bank of Lebanon in English. Behind the large Arabic denomination is the Lebanon Cedar, a national symbol of pride that holds a significant importance for Lebanon. The French reverse (top right image) is has a similar format to the Arabic obverse - except for the language difference, of course! On this side, the year and bank inscription is switched north and south.