We continue our blog series following along with Whitman Publishing’s 100 Greatest Modern World Coins with a coin that is technically modern, but its appearance says otherwise. Authors Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker talk us through this major rarity from the other side of the globe today as we learn more about its background and the reign it was struck under.
#93 – Yemen AH1358 (1939) Gold 2 Riyals
According to authors Morgan and Walker, Arabic coinage often gets dismissed by Western numismatic collectors, an unfortunate slight since it is chocked full of rarities and varieties. One of those rarities is the Yemen AH1358 Gold 2 Riyals. Just four are known to exist with one of them bringing over $21,000 at auction in January of 2015.
The coin is considered unique for its appearance despite its modernity. Described as medieval looking, it was struck under the rule of Imam Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din. He ruled from 1869-1948 as the mint that struck the coin was of the city of Sana’a. He kept the mint employed during his reign for the purpose of striking coins. Yemeni coins were struck in the city at an out-of-date mint using out-of-date technology, hence the appearance of the gold Yemen 2 Riyals dated AH1358 (1939). The circulating coinage was based on the Turkish system.
Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din was a nationalist leader and considered a revolutionary who was named Imam of Yemen after his father, Imam Muhammad bin Yaha Hamid ad-Din, passed in 1904. His rule continued the efforts of his father before him as they continued to resist and cast out the occupying Ottoman Turkey forces so that they could install an independent Yemen.
His rule came to an end after 44 years when Yahya was assassinated on February 17, 1948. Ahmad bin Yahya Hamidaddin, his son, ruled the country then but ran it into the ground as it was strife with turmoil. The Republic of Yemen rose from the ashes in 1962 and ended the modern-medieval age of Yemeni numismatics.