ok, hate to do this, but I don't have one of those new fangled picture devices... I recently found a coin identified as being from Iran, AH1336... so I think that translates to 1917 if I did my math correctly. But it doesn't have a denomination on it, and Krause has no picture that matches it. I think the year and country are correct, because the gentleman only wrote what he could identify. Details: obverse (possibly reverse): two wheat shafts unconnected at the bottom, with arabic script / open (not bound within a circle) in the center. Reverse: a picture of a sheik (?) in a chair, being fanned by a servant from behind. A small tower like object is in front of him, and comes up to his knees. It looks to be silver. It is a little smaller than a quarter. any ideas? I hope it isn't just some medal, because it is a somewhat beautiful coin, in great condition.
Well Krause does not always have every coin for a particular country listed with a pic. But if you can find it in there by description it is likely a medal of some sort. I'm not really up on middle eastern coinage so am afraid I can't offer much help
Are you sure that none of the Arabic characters (except for the date) are numbers? If it really doesn't have a denomination the chance of it being a "coin" is vanishingly small. The only undenominated Iranian coins of that era listed by Krause are the Shahi Sefid, which are smaller than a U.S. dime, and have the usual sword-wielding lion on the reverse.
I'm going to try and get a pic uploaded today. I don't know about the arabic. I can read some chinese, but no arabic. All I know is what the previous owner had noted on his 2 X 2, which for all I know, isn't accurate. He did not post the denomination - only the year and country.
The digits "133" at the bottom of the obverse are clear. The person who dated the coin as 1917 believed that the full date was "1336", but I'm not convinced. The marks at the right end of the line are completely incompatible with "6" in Malay-Persian, the Arabic script used in Iran (formely known as Persia), and actually appear to be two zeros. The marks seem to be further away from the first three than would be appropriate as part of a date, and of course "13300" makes no sense at all. I've searched the Iran listings in the 19th Century and 20th/21st Century volumes, and find nothing in Krause remotely resembling this piece. Since it has no apparent denomination, I don't believe it's a coin; and I'm not really sure it's Iranian.
Thank you very much! I went through a few arabic countries in Krause last night. I'll stash it for now, maybe in later years, I will come across something when looking for something else, completely... That seems to happen to me a lot with these mystery items. Again, I thank you guys for the help. You all are great folks.
