Afghanistan SH1312 1/2 afghani KM-932
The first specimen was lot 3630 in Stephen Album sale 50 (Santa Rosa, CA, September 2024), where it sold for $102. The catalog description[1] noted, "AFGHANISTAN: Muhammad Zahir Shah, 1933-1973, AR 1/2 afghani, SH1312 (1933), a lovely mint-state example! PCGS graded MS63, ex Hakim Hamidi Collection." The second specimen was lot 3631 in the same sale, where it sold for $156. The catalog description[1] noted, "AFGHANISTAN: Muhammad Zahir Shah, 1933-1973, AR 1/2 afghani, Kabul, SH1312, ruler's name in small dotted circle // mosque, mint name above, date below, AU, RR, ex Hakim Hamidi Collection. This type was replaced in the following year by the variation with larger dotted circle around the king's name (KM-932.2), which is much more common." Coins of this period are sometimes dated on the traditional Muslim calendar, or on the Solar Hegira calendar, as here, which starts on the same date as the traditional Hegira calendar but uses solar years rather than lunar years. This type was struck for Muhammad Nadir Shah in SH1313-1316. One hundred pul made an afghani.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 4.75 g, 0.500 fine silver, 24 mm diameter; the second specimen 5.22 g.
Catalog reference: the first specimen KM-932.2, H-72B; the second specimen KM-932.1, Hamidi-72A, Numista-36990.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Album, Stephen, Joseph Lang, Paul Montz, Michael Barry and Norman Douglas Nicol, Auction 50, featuring selections from the Dr. Robert A. Rosenfeld Collection, the Hakim Hamidi Collection, the Almer H. Orr III Collection and the Solar Collection, Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2024.
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