Dear friend, I just got a silver Iraqi coin. Its a 50 Fils coin dated 1933 . I searched the net for its Catalogue number and value, but without success.. Please someone help me.. I got the pic of a similar coin dated 1931 from the net.. the coin i got looks exactly the same but the date is 1933. The pic of 1931 coin is attached herewith.
That Iraqi 50 fils is KM-100 in the Standard Catalog of World Coins (try a library). They were minted in only those two years with 8.8 million in 1931 and 800,000 in 1933. With the bust of king Faisal I worn smooth as in the picture it would appear the coin would likely be graded in Fine condition, at best, which catalogs in the 2006 edition at $6. It also contains .1447 of an ounce of silver.
What is that, one-seventh take away one-fortyninth? Who makes up these numbers? Is there any reason why a "Dollar" could not have been 20 pennyweights or 30? or 50 for that matter? What would have been so darned diffcult about a UK Sovereign and a US Half Eagle both being exactly one-fourth of an ounce? The U.S. system was supposed to be "decimal" but we have a quarter dollar. OK, I can accept that, I guess, but in German states, they had a nice ancient progression with 1, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, and 1/6. Why stop there? Ten coins, from 1 to 1/10 units by arithmetic fractions. Then you could have bar challenges where someone puts down a line of coins and you have to sing the tune...
Dear spiraltreet See Iraq, Faisal I,1933 50 Fils coin plus info on this link: http://www.chiefacoins.com/Database/Countries/Faisal_I.htm Regards
