The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south, Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories to the west, Syria to the north, and Iraq to the east. Its capital is Amman.
Present-day Jordan is comprised of the former Emirate of Transjordan. The Emirate of Transjordan was a British protectorate that was established on 11 April 1921. However, the Hashemite dynasty ruled the protectorate alongside nearby territories. On 25 May 1946, the emirate became the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. When the Treaty of London was ratified, Jordan gained full independence from the British.
The Emirate of Transjordan used the Palestinian pound as its official currency. When Jordan gained its independence in 1946, it continued to use the Palestinian pound. In 1949, Jordan established the Jordan Currency Board as the sole authority to issue the new official currency of Jordan, the Jordanian dinar. The Jordanian dinar replaced the Palestinian pound at par. The use of the Palestinian pound stopped in September 1950.
In 1949, coins were introduced in denominations of 1 fils, 5 fils, 10 fils, 20 fils, 50 fils, and 100 fils. The first issue of 1-fils coins was minted as “1 fil” due to a misunderstanding regarding the spelling of the Arabic singular. However, this mistake was corrected in succeeding issues. 20-fils coins were minted until 1965 while the 1-fils coin was last minted in 1985.
All coins depict the bust of the ruler on the obverse and a lattice design with the value on the reverse. The portrait of King Hussein by Philip Nathan was used in 1968. The 25-fils coin was introduced in the same year. In 1970, the quarter-dinar (1/4 dinar) coin was introduced into circulation. The quarter-dinar was initially used as a means by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to raise funds for agricultural projects. Unlike previous coin designs, the quarter-dinar had an olive tree design instead of a lattice design on its reverse.
In 1977, three Jordan coins were issued with an updated portrait of King Hussein by Geoffrey Colley as part of the Conservation Coin Collection, an international project that funded conservation programs in collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund. A year later, the updated portrait was officially incorporated into the design of standard circulation coins.
Coins were denominated in Arabic using fils, qirsh, dirham, and dinar but were only in fils and dinar in English. Since 1992, coins were denominated in qirsh and dinar in Arabic and in dinar and either qirsh or piastres in English. The first bimetallic coin, the half-dinar (1/2 dinar) was introduced in 1996.
Denominations that currently circulate in Jordan are 1 qirsh, 5 piastres/qirsh, 10 piastres/qirsh, quarter-dinar, and half-dinar. These coins feature King Abdullah on the obverse side and a lattice work design with the value on the reverse side.
