Afghanistan SH1315 8 grams
The first specimen was lot 1014 in Stephen Album sale 47 (Santa Rosa, CA, September 2023), where it sold for $1,140. The catalog description[1] noted, "AFGHANISTAN: Muhammad Zahir Shah, 1933-1973, AV 8 grams, SH1315 (1936), NGC graded MS62, R." The second specimen was lot 1485 in Stephen Album sale 50 (Santa Rosa, CA, September 2024), where it sold for $1,020. The catalog description[2] noted, "AFGHANISTAN: Muhammad Zahir Shah, 1933-1973, AV 8 grams, SH1315 (1936), a lovely lustrous mint-state example! PCGS graded MS63, ex Hakim Hamidi Collection." This type was struck SH 1314-1317 and is rare. 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 indeed weighs 8 grams. Its face value is uncertain but was probably meant to trade for a sovereign; a accompanying four grams likely equaled a half sovereign.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 8 g, 0.900 fine gold, 22 mm diameter.
Catalog reference: KM-934.
- 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 Norman Douglas Nicol, Auction 47, Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2023.
- [2]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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