Looks like an Ethiopian 10 birr piece to me. The bird is good old Gypaetus Barbatus aka Bearded Vulture. Christian
Can you repic that by takeing the photograph head on? That happens to be one of my favorite coins and I'd love to see your up close.
http://www.cointalk.com/t36192/ http://www.cointalk.com/t36191/ [h=2]Coin Collecting at the Safir House 2008 Bald Eagle Comemeratives[/h] Wed Oct 31 00:16:13 2012 [HR][/HR] In 2008 the US Mint created one of the great commemorative coins it has ever produced. In fact, artisitically speaking, the American Bald Eagle Commemorative might well be artistically and in execution the greatest work of the mint in its 200+ years of existence. The 2008 US Bald Eagle Obverse Half Dollar This Eagle near jumps off the page with detail unlike any coins produced by the Mint until now, Looking closely to the feather design, gentle sweeping lines brush over the Eagle's neck and head, with light almost brush like lines and shading. Another Obverse Image Very Clear Obverse View Great Detail of the Obverse Clad The 2008 US Bald Eagle Reverse Half Dollar Clad The Reverse is even more astounishing, a break through design that peirces through the visual vocabulary of coinage as low relief design, pushing into a new realism, nearly holographic in its imagary. The young chicks could not have been better represented in a Nation Geographic print, these hungry chicks are in complete movement, with hear unknown complexity of engraving in the nesting material which craddles the birds and an egg, as well as the softest of down feathers. Another View of the Reverse Another Smaller Version Great Picture of the Reverse Eagle with White Silver Another White Photo of the Reverse Smaller Image of the Eagle Reverse 2008 Silver Bald Eagle Commemorative Obverse The Silver Dollar is similar to the reverse of the Sac Golden dollar, but with subtle details and background. More poised in the design and sacrificing some of it's realism, the soaring wings wrap around the coin in a graceful play on roundness of the coin. Large Photo of Obverse Silver Another Obverse Silver Bald Eagle Obverse 2008 Reverse Silver Bald Eagle This Reverse tips its hat to late 18th Century designs, some of the earliest US Coins. Another shot of the reverse [HR][/HR] Our modest collection generally contains the following coins types. Click to see these examples show below including photography: Section I: US Coints Circulated US Silver Coins prior to 1964 Go To Section II: Modern and Ancient Foreign Coins from Outside The United States Go To Section III: Mandy's 25th Anniversary World Wildlife Fund Silver Coins Ruben Safir's Front Page Coin CollectionLarge Cent Coppers Flying Eagle Cents Lincoln Cents and Wheat Backs Buffalo Nickels Jefferson Nickels Jefferson Silver War Nickels Bust Half Dimes Mercury (Liberrty Head) Dimes Roosevelt Dime Barber Quarter Dollars Standing Libery Quarter Washington and Washington State Quarters Cap Bust Half Dollars Seated Half Dollars Barber Half Dollars Walking Liberty Half Dollars Franklin Half Dollars Kennedy Half Dollars Morgan Silver Dollars Peace Silver Dollars Eisenhower Clad and Silver Dollars Sacawagea Golden Dollars Modern Silver and Clad Proof Sets Modern American Silver Eagle uncirculated mint coins and proofs Modern Silver and Clad 2008 Commorative Bald Eagle Series Gold Coins - Not too many
Nah - the lion and the script (which I cannot read) just reminded me of Ethiopia, and the coat of arms ... well, once you have a "suspicion" what country it could be, it is easy to look things up. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emblem_of_Ethiopia With the species name (which I saw in my German coin catalog) I merely wanted to brag. Christian
I feel confident that this is one probably no one else here has or has probably even seen. It's a 1989 5 Dong .900 Silver coin from Vietnam depicting a Chim Phoung! These coins are extremely rare (came in a set of three 5 Dong, 10 Dong, & 20 Dong. The 5D has the bird, the 10D has the 'one pillar pagoda' and the 20D is Ho Chi Minh) and were gifts from the USSRRussia (Leningrad mint) to the Government of Vietnam, they were not produced for circulation (obviously) and not even for collectors.