Sorting out Ethiopian Currencies [Risolto]

The present currencies for Ethiopia are a bit of a mess. We currently have:

Thaler (1893-1936)

1 Thaler = 16 Gersh

Birr (1894-1931)

1 Birr = 20 Gersh = 40 Bessa; Werk ~ 4 Birr

Birr (decimalized, 1931-1936)

100 Metonnyas = 1 Birr

Ethiopian Dollar (1945-1976)

1 Dollar = 100 Cents

Birr (1976-date)

1 Birr = 100 Senteems

Some of this is complete nonsense, especially the fictional use of cents for the subdivisions of the “dollar”. The first currency is only used for notes, the second and third only for coins, so a merger is clearly required. What we actually need is the following:

Birr (1894-1931, Thaler in French)

1 Birr = 20 Gersh (1894-1903), 1 Birr = 16 Gersh (1903-1931); 1 Werk ≈ 4 Birr

Birr (Decimalized, 1931-1936, Thaler in French)

1 Birr = 100 Metonya

Birr (1945-date, Dollar in English until 1976)

1 Birr = 100 Santeem

A discussion of the split in 1976 can be found here. The change in the number of gersh to the birr is given in KM but does not appear on the coins or notes, hence my sugestion that we mention it in the description rather than split the currency. The denomination bessa is in KM but I can't find any coin bearing it.

Larger question to understand the rationale here: is your overall recommendation about the catalogue to merge all currencies where the name (in all language or at least in local language) stayed the same? Or what is the criterion you use to separate actual currencies: only when description about equivalence changes? 

Thanks for pointing out a duplicate in early Ethiopian currencies; this may come from too much distinction between coins and banknotes sections.

Based on your suggestion, here is mine:

Thaler (1893-1931)

Thaler (decimalized, 1931-1936)

Ofc local denominations in amharic would appear in entries like here

And we would keep current ones:

Ethiopian Dollar (1945-1976)

Birr (1976-date)

My understanding is that amharic word Birr (ብር) means originally “Silver” and was used indistinctively since 1893 on letterings, even if official currencies named this way changed several times.

The fact “dollar”, “thaler” and post-1976 “birr” in word form is written the same in amharic does not remove the fact dollar was what was written on both banknotes and coins between 1945 and 1976 (with the $ symbol here: “E$5” = 5 Ethiopian dollars)

On the very banknotes it's also written “አንድ ፡ የኢትዮጵያ ፡ ብር ፡”: we would not need to specify “Ethiopian” if we were talking about the same Birr than the one after 1976.

Same for Thalers before 1936: banknotes display Thaler in mirror with ብር:

Compendium

Larger question to understand the rationale here: is your overall recommendation about the catalogue to merge all currencies where the name (in all language or at least in local language) stayed the same? Or what is the criterion you use to separate actual currencies: only when description about equivalence changes? 

In essence, yes. However, just in case that is misunderstood, we should split when a new currency of the same name is introduced that replaces the previous at a ratio other than 1:1. We can also split if the subdivisions change but only if there is a clear division, such as here with the decimalization. I'm personally sceptical about the change from 16 to 20 gersh and there's no evidence for it on the coins, hence my preference for a description of this change rather than a split.

In response to your counter-proposal, for the first birr, the name thaler only appears on the notes (alongside birr), so we need both in the titles for the notes (before and after decimalization) and in the currency. For the second birr, since birr is unchanged and only the exonym “dollar” was removed in 1976, I see no reason to split, a description of that change is enough.

I'm not sure what you mean by “Amharic word Birr (ብር) means originally “Silver” and was used indistinctively since 1893 on letterings”. The use of gersh and birr seem entirely distinct. Could you explain, please? Is it indistinct because the translations I requested for the Amharic scripts on the notes were rejected?

Ok thanks, interesting. I disagree about defining currencies only about “what appears on the coins”.

Currencies changes can also be studied from legal, financial, diplomatical, economical documentation (as we already discussed a lot in the other thread you linked above about the 1976 change of currency).

Interesting fact also: the word “thalari” appears on some coins patterns minted when Thaler was the currency.

I think I presented all my rationale here and will let others share their thoughts :-)

Compendium

Ok thanks, interesting. I disagree about defining currencies only about “what appears on the coins”.

Currencies changes can also be studied from legal, financial, diplomatical, economical documentation (as we already discussed a lot in the other thread you linked above about the 1976 change of currency).

 

Interesting fact also: the word “thalari” appears on some coins patterns minted when Thaler was the currency.

 

I think I presented all my rationale here and will let others share their thoughts :-)

We won't always be able to rely purely on what appears on the coins and notes but we need a very good reason to disregard it. I wonder what language “thalari” was in, given the French plural used was thalers.

Could you please explain your rationale for not accepting the translations I requested on the banknotes?

I did what you said (using both words in currencies) and deduplicated Birr.

You can resubmit any change request that you think was wrongly handled, thanks.

Compendium

I did what you said (using both words in currencies) and deduplicated Birr.

You can resubmit any change request that you think was wrongly handled, thanks.

It's a lot better than it was, so thank you. Could we also fix the denominations for the 1945-1976 currency to use santeem rather than cent, as in the titles? If we're going to keep the split in 1976, we really need to indicate that there was no change in the value of the birr at that time. I'd like to see the relationships between successive currencies added to Numista, so I'd be keen to hear what others think about this. Is it too much information or would it enhance the site?

Done

https://nbe.gov.et/about-us/bank-notes/

1 Birr / Thaler = 20 Gersh = 40 Bessa (1893-1903) /  = 16 Gersh = 32 Bessa (1903-1931); Werk ~ 4 Birr / Thalers

(Sorry, I thought the 'SOLVED' tag would be deleted when someone replied, but it wasn't. So please let me know if a new thread is needed).

Higuera

(Sorry, I thought the 'SOLVED' tag would be deleted when someone replied, but it wasn't. So please let me know if a new thread is needed).

Yes, that would be better.