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1/4 Rupie - Wilhelm II
| Issuer | German East Africa Company (Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Gesellschaft) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1891-1901 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 2.92 g |
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| Obverse description | Right-facing uniformed effigy of Kaiser Wilhelm II wearing a Prussian pickelhaube (spiked helmet) surmounted by a crowned Hohenzollern eagle. The bust is rendered in high relief with fine detailing of the military tunic and collar. The encircling legend reads GUILELMUS II IMPERATOR in raised Latin characters along the upper periphery of the field. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
The Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Gesellschaft held imperial charter authority over a territory larger than Germany itself, but its coinage rights were effectively borrowed time. Berlin absorbed the Company's administrative functions in 1891 — the same year this type began striking — and by 1905 the colonial government had fully displaced Company-issued currency with imperial issues. These quarter rupie pieces circulated during that uncomfortable transitional decade when a chartered trading company was nominally governing what the Kaiserreich increasingly considered a state responsibility.
The rupie denomination was adopted to facilitate trade with existing Indian Ocean commerce networks, where the Indian rupee already dominated coastal exchange.