1/2 Khumsi - Salah bold legends

Mukalla, a port town on the Hadhramaut coast of what is now Yemen, operated under the Qu'aiti sultans whose authority in the mid-nineteenth century was perpetually contested by rival tribal confederacies. Small fractional bronzes like this were struck for local bazaar use at a moment when the Qu'aiti were consolidating control through commerce rather than conquest. The bold-legend variety designation distinguishes it from a parallel issue with finer lettering — a die difference significant enough to warrant separate catalog treatment.