I came across this piece recently. This is neat because the coin is in high relief. It's 90% gold and the same content as a sovereign. I wanted to share a coin people may not be familiar with. Enjoy!
This is what I use to date them in Arabic. I had gotten 1324 as my best guess. But looking at it it could definitely be a stylized 6.
I was going by Yeoman, who says it's 1948 in the Iran/Persia section of Current Coins of the World. But then in his introduction, he says the AD year can be easily obtained simply by adding 621 to the SH year. So, according to that explanation, it would be 1947. So now I'm confused, too.
Well I just read that it depends on the time of year, they do not have the New Years the same time as we do. Like in January it may be 1947 Gregorian, but in October it may be 1948 Gregorian. "The Iranian year usually begins within a day of 21 March of the Gregorian calendar. To find the corresponding year of the Gregorian calendar, add 621 or 622 (depending on the time of the year) to a Solar Hejri year."
Well, it's a rough estimate. 1947 or '48 could both be correct, since I don't believe the SH year begins on January 1st and ends on December 31st, like the Gregorian calendar. It just begins partway through the year.
This might solve the mystery. Apparently there was some calendar revision in 1954 in Iran in which the "simply add 621" rule began to apply.
adding 621 to the SH year woud be true. but the SH year begins on 21 March ( when the sun enters in north hemisphere)
I got the impression that the Western-style year was adopted after the Shah came to power, but perhaps the old calendar was readopted after the Iranian Revolution?
Since pahlavi ( about 1922) until now the iranian use the sh calendar - but befor the pahlavi used the AH calendar
Who cares about the date, --how about that clashed die on the reverse?? Remarkably strong impression of the obverse legend. Also, the portrait looks kind of mushy. Perhaps from the high-relief requiring more strike than the press was able to put out?? Or is this actually a smaller coin than the standard Sovereign, perhaps a half-Pahlavi?
And a cool die clash on that, rather unusual for a gold coin. I want to collect those and the newer Azadi coinages sometime.
