Yemen 1981 500 rials
This specimen was lot 1389 in Steve Album Auction 55 (Santa Rosa, CA, May 2026), where it sold for $9,000. The catalog description[1] noted, "YEMEN: Arab Republic, AV 500 rials, 1981/AH1401, piedfort (piéfort) issue, International Year of Disabled Persons, with original COA and British Royal Mint case of issue, NGC graded PF69 Ultra Cameo. A very rare piedfort (double thickness) strike in gold. It has a published maximum authorized mintage of 600 but the likely number struck is probably much lower. We could find none listed on the usual auction platforms and this is the first we have offered." Numista says the portrait is of Simon Bolivar, which we doubt. It is more likely Ali Abdullah Saleh (1947-2017), ruler of North Yemen 1978-90 and unified Yemen 1990-2012.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specifications: 15.98 g, 0.917 fine gold, 28.4 mm diameter, reeded edge.
Catalog reference: KM 24, KM P2 (piedfort), Schön-148a (piedfort).
- Friedberg, Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg, Gold Coins of the World, From Ancient Times to the Present, 9th ed., Clifton, NJ: Coin and Currency Institute, 2017.
- 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 Hanbing Feng, Auction 55, featuring Selections from the Swamperbob Gurney Collection of Cap & Ray 8 Reales, the Kenneth A. Bovenkamp Collection of Ottoman Coins and the 1914 Collection of World Coins, Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2026.
Links: