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 Replies: 47 / Views: 14,398 |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2805 Posts |
My largest serious collection of banknotes (this is not saying much) are Iranian notes. The rial is the most worthless currency in the world, clocking in at over 20,000 to one USD. I thought I would show off the designs I have so far - the U.S. embargo means I will have to search hard to find the higher-denomination notes that are still in use today. I dearly want the 1,000,000 rial Iran Cheque (not a note but a government-issued bank cheque, when you deposit one at a bank it is summarily destroyed), because it is one of the few non-obsolete banknotes worldwide that can make you a millionaire in one go. Tip: Look for ebay listings described as "Persia", "Modern Persia", or the favourite "I R A N" and "1RAN". The Internet finds a way...       Decorated at a Nowruz (Iranian New Year) celebration in Canada.   It's not much, but I like the artwork on these notes and the series of post-Revolutionary notes is not too hard to find. |
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Pillar of the Community
Thailand
1509 Posts |
I happen to have a couple of pre-revolutionary ones.     My brother happened to be in Teheran on the day that the revoulionary guards stormed the American Embassy and took the hostages. A very scarey time he says. Fortunately he and his friend looked like Iranian tribesmen and so were unmolested. They made their way to the Iran/Turkey border where they were held by border guards. Stripped of passports and any money they had they were held for several days. They then managed to sneak out one night and made their way westwards until they (fortunately) found a Turkish village and were eventually repatriated to Great Britain. Fascinating story but some notes from him would have been nice. |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2124 Posts |
Your brother was American?
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Pillar of the Community
Thailand
1509 Posts |
No, British but anyone dressed like a westerner in Teheran that day was in danger of being beaten. My brother and his friend had gone to the British Embassy to get info about the situation. This was just down the street from the American Embassy which was under attack at the time. The British staff were all running around like headless chickens, shredding and burning documents. The advice given to my brother was "head west and the best of luck to you".
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2124 Posts |
Interesting. In fact, nothing surprise to me about that type of wild theocracy. Happily your brother managed to escape.
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Pillar of the Community
 Canada
2805 Posts |
Well, my escape from the Vatican was nearly as harrowing. (not really)
It's interesting to note that both of the monuments on the 1000 and 2000 rial notes aren't actually in Iran (the Dome of the Rock in Israel/Palestine/whatever and the Ka'aba in Saudi Arabia).
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2571 Posts |
A CCF contributor mentioned that these were tough to find (so naturally I had to verify whether this was the case). Not surprisingly, it took me quite a few weeks (& several different keyword searches, including "Persia" and "Rials") in order to find 1 or 2 sellers. I eventually settled on purchasing a few pre-revolutionary BIN notes from a German seller who had a few available around BV. Here's my first note, a common 20 Rials P100:   Afterwards, while continuing my pursuit, I did find the odd note go up for auction, but the auction closed at an odd dates/time (on the other side of the globe) so I lost track, and was surprised to see 2 pre-revolutionary notes sold for less than BV. |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2571 Posts |
Here's a P71 10 Rial from 1961. Again, I don't believe it's that tough a note to find (nor that uncommon) but it seems that few sellers are willing to part with them these days. I suspect this maybe more a function of their low BV and the present global economy/soft market:   - I just realized now that the OP had given a tip about finding these notes. Also- try to find the ones with the Shaw obscured by a very Arabesque pattern -those early revolutionary regime take-over examples seem few & far between. Edited by walk2dwater
02/29/2020 08:44 am
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
8938 Posts |
Quote:
My brother happened to be in Teheran on the day that the revoulionary guards stormed the American Embassy and took the hostages. A very scarey time he says. Fortunately he and his friend looked like Iranian tribesmen and so were unmolested.
They made their way to the Iran/Turkey border where they were held by border guards. Stripped of passports and any money they had they were held for several days. They then managed to sneak out one night and made their way westwards until they (fortunately) found a Turkish village and were eventually repatriated to Great Britain.
Fascinating story but some notes from him would have been nice. I apologize on behalf of my Iranian bretheran. |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
901 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2571 Posts |
Quote:
Here is a 20 Rials (1969) p84a with Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in military uniform. Quote:
nd a 2000 Rials (1986) p141l featuring some Fundamentalist revolutionary fighters. -Juxtaposing those to examples provides a dramatic storyboard for the country's rocky upheaval "Scots." (it also reminded me that my P71 banknote was actually from 1961 /not 70's as I had originally, incorrectly, posted. Thanks for letting me revise that.) Here's P72 , the 20 Rials from 1961:   |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
901 Posts |
Nice one walk2dwater. Some lovely notes posted  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
36491 Posts |
1974-79 50 Rials   |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
36491 Posts |
100,000 Rials 2010   |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
36491 Posts |
50,000 Rials 2015   |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
36491 Posts |
20,000 Rials 2014   |
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Replies: 47 / Views: 14,398 |
Posted 02/09/2014 6:21 pm
