The smallest coin of Iraq’s first republican series: instead of a king’s portrait, the 1959 one-fils piece carries the date of the revolution, «١٤ تموز ١٩٥٨» — 14 July 1958, the day the country became a republic.

The design relies entirely on Arabic calligraphy. One side names the new state, «الجمهورية العراقية» (Republic of Iraq), together with the date of the coup; the other bears the value «١ فلس» and a double date, «١٣٧٩ - ١٩٥٩», pairing the Hijri year with the Gregorian one. The outline is not round but ten-sided.

The 1959 republican series ran from 1 to 100 fils and replaced the royal coinage that had shown Faisal I, Ghazi and Faisal II. It did not last long: by the end of the 1960s three palm trees had taken over Iraqi coins, and they remained the emblem of the coinage for two decades.

For an Iraq collection this is a turning-point piece — the first year of the republic in metal. Grade F-VF: the coin circulated, the high points are worn smooth, yet the legends and dates remain legible.

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