Hmmm.

12:44 a.m. 7-21-07: I don't know this one yet. I will add to this post later with more information. It's a pretty coin, about the diameter of a dime, but thicker. I don't know the language, I don't know the dude. This means lots of page flipping. It probably dates to the 1950s, since it's my Uncle Mark's, and most of the world coins he has are ones he was given in the '50s. Fun! If I can't identify it in the next few minutes, I'm going to bed.

12:15 PM 7-21/07: Found it this morning. Ethiopia, one cent. The dude is Haile Selassie I, last of the Solomonic emperors, who ruled for a couple of thousand years, until the military booted him out in the 1970s. This is dated EE (Ethiopian Era) 1936, but coins with this date were minted 1944-1975 for Ethiopia in several other countries, including the U.S. The catalog I have give an approximate value of 30 cents, but it lists total mintage as 20,000, which is very low. I'm guessing that figure is a mistake.

7/30/07: Yeah, it's an error. The actual mintage is 2 million. That makes more sense.