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1/2 Pahlavī - Mohammad Rezā Pahlavī
| Issuer | Bank Melli Iran |
|---|---|
| Year | 1951-1974 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 4.06799 g |
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| Obverse description | Low-relief unadorned effigy of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi facing left, his bare head rendered in a naturalistic portrait style. A curved Persian legend arcs above the effigy across the upper field, identifying the ruler and his imperial title, while the Solar Hijri date in Eastern Arabic-Indic numerals appears in two groups flanking the lower truncation. The coin is bordered by a fine reeded rim. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | محمّد رضا شاه پهلوی شاهنشاه ایران ۱۳۳۲ (Translation: Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi, Shahindshah of Iran 1332) |
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| Additional information |
The half Pahlavi gold series spans a politically turbulent stretch of Mohammad Reza Shah's reign, bracketed at one end by the 1953 CIA- and MI6-backed coup that restored him to power after Mosaddegh's nationalization of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, and at the other by the oil boom years when Iran's gold coinage became a domestic savings instrument for a rapidly urbanizing middle class. Bank Melli issued these not merely as bullion but as the preferred store of household wealth in a country where banking trust remained thin.
The Pahlavi denomination had been introduced by Reza Shah in 1926 specifically to replace the older Toman-based gold coinage — a deliberate modernization tied to his broader program of Westernizing state institutions.