Algeria KM#141 100 Dinars Coin 2018-2019 UNC—Bimetallic—Alcomsat-1

Struck to commemorate Algeria's first national telecommunications satellite, this bimetallic 100-dinar coin is one of the most technically ambitious commemorative issues in Algerian numismatic history — and one of the few coins in the world to display three simultaneous calendar systems on a single face.

Obverse

• Colors/materials: aluminium bronze center (golden tone) in stainless steel outer ring (silver tone)
• Denomination "100" in Arabic numerals at center
• Issuer name in the outer ring in Arabic: بنك الجزائر / 100 / دينار ("Bank of Algeria / 100 / Dinars")

Reverse

• Colors/materials: matching bimetallic composition
• Alcomsat-1 satellite depicted in orbit above the globe, with Africa prominently shown and Algeria in higher relief; Europe, part of Asia, and a portion of South America also visible
• Triple-calendar date at right: Berber / Gregorian / Hijri (varies by variety — see below)
• Outer ring of 20 stars divided into two groups of 10 (top and bottom), separated by two Bank of Algeria monograms

Other Characteristics

• Varieties (all covered by this listing):
  • Berber 2968 / 2018 / 1440 — first issue
  • Berber 2969 / 2018 / 1440
  • Berber 2969 / 2019 / 1440
  • Berber 2970 / 2020 / 1441
• Catalog numbers: KM# 141; Numista N#162566
• Composition: Bimetallic — aluminium bronze center in stainless steel ring
• Weight: 11 g
• Diameter: 29.50 mm
• Thickness: 2.30 mm
• Shape: Round
• Edge: Milled
• Orientation: Coin alignment (↑↓)
• Technique: Milled
• Issuing entity: Bank of Algeria (بنك الجزائر)
• Mint: Algiers, Algeria (1962–date)
• Demonetized: No — current legal tender
• Currency: Algerian dinar (1964–date)
• Official languages: Arabic, Tamazight (Berber)

About Algeria

• Origin of name: From Al-Jazā’ir (الجزائر), Arabic for "The Islands" — referring to four small islands that once lay off the coast of Algiers before being absorbed into the harbor; the name was applied first to the city, then to the country
• Capital: Algiers (city pop. ~3.4 million; metro ~5.6 million)
  • Origin of name: Same root as the country — Al-Jazā’ir, "The Islands"; the city was a major Ottoman port and later the seat of French colonial administration from 1830 to 1962
• Population: ~46 million (UN 2024) — comparable to Spain or Argentina
• Area: 2,381,741 km² (919,595 mi²) — the largest country in Africa and the Arab world; comparable to Alaska and Texas combined
• GDP per capita (PPP): ~$12,500 (IMF 2024)
• Main exports: Crude oil, natural gas, refined petroleum, ammonia, dates
• Borders: Tunisia and Libya (northeast/east), Niger and Mali (south), Mauritania and Western Sahara (southwest), Morocco (west); Mediterranean Sea to the north
• Official/spoken languages: Arabic, Tamazight; French widely used in business and education
• Ethnicities: Arab-Berbers (~99%), with small communities of Tuareg and other groups
• Memberships: United Nations (1962); African Union (1963, founding member as OAU); Arab League (1962); OPEC (1969); Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
• Sovereignty: Ottoman regency of Algiers (1516–1830); French colonial rule (1830–1962); independence declared July 5, 1962 following the Algerian War of Independence (1954–1962); People's Democratic Republic (1962–date)

Algeria Unfiltered

• Algeria is the largest country in Africa — yet roughly 90% of its population lives on just 12% of its land, clustered along the Mediterranean coastal strip; the rest is Sahara
• The Algerian War of Independence (1954–1962) killed an estimated 300,000–1.5 million Algerians and displaced over 2 million — France did not officially acknowledge it as a "war" until 1999
• Algeria has three official calendar systems running simultaneously: the Gregorian, the Islamic Hijri, and the Berber (Amazigh) calendar — all three appear on this coin
• The country sits on the world's 10th-largest proven natural gas reserves and is Europe's third-largest gas supplier — making its energy policy a matter of continental significance
• Timgad, a Roman colonial city founded by Emperor Trajan in 100 AD, lies perfectly preserved in the Aurès Mountains — its grid layout so precise it is sometimes called the "Pompeii of North Africa"

Three Calendars on One Coin

The reverse date inscription is unlike almost anything else in world numismatics. Rather than a single year, it displays three simultaneous dates — one in the Berber (Amazigh) calendar, one Gregorian, one Islamic Hijri — reflecting Algeria's constitutional recognition of Tamazight as a co-official language alongside Arabic in 2016. The Berber calendar, which counts from 950 BC (the approximate date of the Berber king Sheshonq I's accession to the Egyptian throne), is rarely seen on official state coinage anywhere in the world. Its presence here is a deliberate act of cultural restitution.

Alcomsat-1 — Algeria's Leap into Space

Alcomsat-1 was launched on December 11, 2017 aboard a Chinese Long March 3B rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center — Algeria's first geostationary communications satellite and the most significant single infrastructure investment in the country's post-independence history. Built by the China Great Wall Industry Corporation under a $400 million agreement, it provides telecommunications, internet, and broadcast coverage across Algeria, Africa, and parts of Europe. The coin's reverse shows it in orbit above a globe where Algeria is rendered in higher relief than surrounding nations — a cartographic assertion of national pride pressed into metal.

Own this coin and you hold one of the most conceptually rich commemoratives in modern African numismatics — three calendars, one satellite, and a country asserting its identity in orbit and in metal simultaneously.