1981 is the largest year in the history of this quarter dinar: 800,000 coins bear the date, four times as many as in the opening year of 1978, while 1985, the last year of the type, saw just 5,000.

The obverse carries King Hussein bin Talal’s head facing right by the British engraver Geoffrey Colley, a portrait that reached Jordanian coins in 1978, with the legend «الحسين بن طلال ملك المملكة الأردنية الهاشمية» naming the king and the country. The reverse shows a tree by Michael Rizzello, familiar to collectors from the 1969 FAO quarter dinar, surrounded by «QUARTER DINAR», «ربع دينار» and a double date: 1401 of the Hijri calendar and 1981.

The 1978–1985 type was the last of the large round copper-nickel quarter dinars: in 1996 Jordan switched to a more compact coin for the denomination. It was struck by the Royal Mint at Llantrisant.

The coin fills the key year of the 1978–1985 type in a Jordan date run and suits a topical collection of trees on coins. The VF-AU grade lies between Very Fine and About Uncirculated: wear is visible on the high points of the portrait and the tree’s crown, but the design and legends read with confidence.

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