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Emblems of Power
how everyday objects embody sovereignty

Not all exchange in the horn of Africa involved currency, but when it did the two parties turned to the 1780 Maria Theresa thaler (MT thaler). The thaler bore the effigy of its namesake, the 18th century Habsburg empress Maria Theresa. The thaler was used as the de facto currency in many places around the world - including Ethiopia - where no official local currency existed.

above: the Maria Theresa thaler

The MT thaler was a denomination too large to be useful in everyday transactions. Instead, rifle cartridges and salt bars were used as "small change." The salt bars were four centimeters square and about 20 centimeters in length, slightly tapered at the ends. They weighed about a pound and a half - around 750 grams. The value of the bars declined over time because of wear and because traders shaved them down. In the 1870s, the value of the thaler varied from eight to twelve salt bars, depending on the quality of the bars.

Besides their value as small change in transactions, salt bars could be sold directly, as pictured here. (Salt bars are displayed in the foreground.)

In the 1890s, shortly after becoming emperor of Ethiopia, Menelik ordered an Ethiopian thaler coin struck in his image. Printed postage stamps with the emperor in profile were also ordered. Alfred Ilg, Menelik's advisor, had urged Menelik to promote the use of these items as part of a symbolic defense of Ethiopian sovereignty. Ilg was right. Postage stamps may seem trivial, but in an age when most state relations were bilateral (that is, state-to-state), postal delivery required an unusual degree of multilateral cooperation. A letter might pass through several national postal systems before reaching its destination, incurring costs without generating revenue; reciprocal acceptance of postage was a courtesy among nations - it amounted to de facto recognition of membership in the broader community of peoples. The issue mattered enough that Italy lobbied - successfully, for a time - to block Ethiopia's bid to join the Universal Postal Union.

above: 1895 Menelik stamp (courtesy George Wallerstein)

As for the Menelik thaler, it never caught on. Various explanations surfaced - that Ethiopians mistrusted unfamiliar currency; that the coins showed Menelik in profile rather than full face as dictated by Ethiopian artistic convention. It was even suggested that Ethiopians were simply too fond of Maria Theresa's décolletage. Whatever the reason, the Maria Theresa was entrenched. Menelik postage stamps, however, were widely adopted. In fact, after Adwa, Italian prisoners posted letters home to their families with the new Menelik stamps..

above: the Menelik thaler

Exchange values

The exchange value of the Maria Theresa thaler varied, just as the value of any service could vary according to time, circumstance, and the bargaining skills of the parties involved. Here are some quoted payments for various goods and services. Sources are given in brackets.

Value of Maria Theresa thaler in salt bars and rifle cartridges

1 MT thaler =  8 to 12 salt bars [M.L. Louis-Lande, « Un voyageur français dans l’Ethiopie méridionale ;» Revue des Deux Mondes 31 (1879): 378.]

1 MT thaler =  5 to 8 salt bars; salt bars 30 centimeters and 750 grams [Francesco Frisina, Memorie di un prigioniero d’Africa, (Reggio Calabria: P. Lombardi, 1899), 247.]

1 MT thaler = 13 cartridges [Emil Gribeschock, “The First American Trading Expedition to Ethiopia”, 1904.]

caravan transport

The cost of a caravan from the coast, per camel: 10 MT per camel, Obock to Harar. [France, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mémoires et documents (supplément), Afrique 138 – 1887-1895 – Missions du capitaine Henon (1887-1888) ; de M. Soumagne (1887-1888) ; de Maschkof (1889) […] Mission à Paris de M. Ilg (1891).] 

The cost of a caravan from the coast, per camel: 12 MT per camel, Djibouti to Harar [Casimir Mondon-Vidailhet “Le commerce du Harar,” Le Temps 23 decembre 1892]

The cost of a caravan from the coast, per camel: 20 MT per camel from coast to Harar [Jules Borelli, Ethiopie méridionale; journal de mon voyage aux pays Amhara, Oromo et Sidama, septembre 1885 à novembre 1888, (Paris: Ancienne Maison Quantin, 1890), 8]

The cost of a caravan from the coast, per camel: 50 MT per camel. [Cost jumps after deadly attack on the Barral caravan in 1887.]

The cost of a caravan from the coast, per camel: 80 MT per camel, paid by Arthur Rimbaud. [Jean-Marie Carré, La vie aventureuse de Jean-Arthur Rimbaud (1870-1875) (Paris: Plon-Nourrit et cie, 1926), 197.]

The cost of a full caravan from the coast: 400 MT; [L. Louis-Lande, « Un voyageur français dans l’Ethiopie méridionale » Revue des Deux Mondes 31 (1879): 392.]

domestic service

4 MT per year – cost of a domestic servant per year, paid in kind (clothing, food); [Jules Borelli, Ethiopie méridionale; journal de mon voyage aux pays Amhara, Oromo et Sidama, septembre 1885 à novembre 1888, (Paris: Ancienne Maison Quantin, 1890), 92-93.]

customs duty (general goods, liquor)

Menelik imposes 10% duty on goods upon entry, 1906 [Quai d’Orsay, Etat numérique]

Menelik imposes duty of up to 40% for liquor; [Archives MAE, Mémoires et documents (supplément), Afrique 138 – 1887-1895 – Missions du capitaine Henon (1887-1888); de M. Soumagne (1887-1888); de Maschkof (1889) […] Mission à Paris de M. Ilg (1891).]

Currency equivalencies

According to an 1898 Baedeker travel guide, five French francs bought one US dollar; five US dollars equaled one British pound; one US dollar would buy four German marks. But there was astonishing variety in what these currencies could demand in MT thalers, as the figures below reveal.

Italian lire

1 MT thaler = 3 lire [Francesco Frisina, Memorie di un prigioniero d’Africa, (Reggio Calabria: P. Lombardi, 1899), 42.]

1 MT thaler = 5 lire [Eugenio Dolciotti, Da Napoli a Adua: Bozzetti e ricordi della campagna d’Africa, 1895-96, (Tivoli: A. Chicca, 1913), 25.]

US dollars

1 MT thaler = $0.45 US [Emil Gribeschock, “The First American Trading Expedition to Ethiopia” 1904.]

British pounds

9 MT thaler = 1 sovereign (British pound) or 2s. 10d each. [Edward Gleichen, With the Mission to Menelik, 1897 (London: E. Arnold, 1898), 168.]

German marks

1 MT thaler = 3 marks [Xavier de Vanssay, “Monetary Unions: A Historical Perspective” in Patrick Crowley, ed., Before and Beyond Emu: Historical Lessons and Future Prospects, (London: Routledge, 2002), 33.]

French francs

1 MT thaler = 5fr50 (1862); [France buys Obok for 10,000 thalers, reported as 55,000 francs]

1 MT thaler = 5fr25 (1879); [M.L. Louis-Lande, «Un voyageur français dans l’Ethiopie méridionale » Revue des Deux Mondes 31 (1879): 377.]

1 MT thaler = 4fr50 (late 1880s); [Jules Borelli, Ethiopie méridionale; journal de mon voyage aux pays Amhara, Oromo et Sidama, septembre 1885 à novembre 1888, (Paris: Ancienne Maison Quantin, 1890), 3n.]

1 MT thaler = 5fr (late 1880s); [Alfred Bardey and Joseph Tubiana, Barr-Adjam: souvenirs d'Afrique orientale, 1880-1887. (Paris: Editions du Centre national de la recherche scientifique, 1981), 124.]

1 MT thaler = 5fr50; (1890s); [Jean-Gaston Vanderheym, Une expédition avec le négous Ménélik; vingt mois en Abyssinie, (Paris: Hachette, 1896), 53]