500 Rials - Mohammad Rezā Pahlavī Winged Lion

Struck to commemorate the 2,500th anniversary of the founding of the Persian Empire, this issue was part of an extraordinary — and extraordinarily expensive — state celebration ordered by Mohammad Reza Shah in October 1971. The festivities at Persepolis cost an estimated $100–$200 million, drawing heads of state from across the world while many Iranians lived in poverty. The political backlash was immediate and lasting; Ayatollah Khomeini denounced the celebrations from exile in Najaf, and the event is widely cited as a catalyzing moment in the popular resentment that fueled the 1979 revolution.

The coins from this series were sold as commemorative pieces rather than circulated, which accounts for the survival rate in uncirculated condition.