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 Replies: 11 / Views: 3,876 |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
I picked up this coin recently--isn't it a cool design? It's copper, 26mm and 6.44gr.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4212 Posts |
It is neat. Are the scales meant to represent justice, or trade?
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
I was luck enough to retrieve one of these in red nearly uncirculated out of a junk box, many years ago.
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
10045 Posts |
Yeah--the scales make this coin! I'm unsure the significance of the design. Nice find from a junk box, Sel!  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
509 Posts |
I like this coin. It has been on my want list for a while but I have yet to acquire it. There are a few reasons to like it: 1. It has arabic script and a picture. Lots of Islamic coins don't have any pictures at all, only script. 2. It's a big copper coin. Those are easy to like. 3. It's from a country/"coin issuing entity" which didn't last long and only issued a few types of coins. 4. You can use it as letter Z in your alphabet of coins.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
567 Posts |
The prohibition on portraiture on Islamic gold and silver coins comes from the Koran, copper coinage was not (for the longest time) considered to be "money" but acted in a form of a token; it had no intrinsic value but represented fractions of gold and silver money to facilitate small transactions.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1840 Posts |
I like this design too. I put off buying one of these for years. Then one showed up in vf condition in a bulk lot that I bought.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1511 Posts |
Very very nice! Wow, it seems alot of us just got these.. My mother bought me a 9 coin lot at a flee market she was selling at, including this, 7 other pre 1900 & a 1735 Dutch VOC East Indies for $4.. (I posted the story Under the main coin forum). I'd say she got a darn good deal!! I love my mom! Yours looks a bit nicer than mine though! I absolutely love the design around the edge of the rim! If you don't mind me asking how much did you get yours for? I've been having a hard time valuing it..   |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
Nathan, it sounds like you get an awesome deal! I like the design too, and I paid $10 for mine. Krause gives a value of $15 in VF. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1511 Posts |
Wow, $15 for VF.. Mines a little more worn than yours.. One of the scale lines is pretty worn.. The rest looks about the same... I really like it though! I just started a pre 1900 foreign collection too so it was perfect! And I was born in 1982, so I like coins 100 years before my b-day.. Trying to get many from 1882.. Ya for $4 I'm super happy with mom! She got flowers today! Lol. This was the whole lot.. You can't see the coins in the pics, I'll take them all out to photo and post on here but you can see the dates and what they are on the 2x2.. All for $4... I couldn't believe it when she handed them to me! She called and said she got 9 foreign coins for 4$... So I was expecting newer coins.. When I went to pick them up it was a pleasant surprise!  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
797 Posts |
They are awesome coins, I picked up the same one for, well, I cant remember, but it resides in my OFEC set and is one of my favorite coins even tho it may not have tons of value, Unique piece of history!
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
653 Posts |
Here is the Zanzibar Pysa that I picked up today. Dated Arabic year 1299 or 1882 AD. I love the coppery iridescent sheen. It appears that the coin has aged well. From my research it appears that the 1882 coins were struck in the Royal Belgian Mint in Brussels. According to https://coinquest.com/cgi-bin/cq/co...l?coin=21611 the Scales are "Scales of Justice". On the other hand, according to http://numis.org/coins-of-the-month/ the Scales are symbolic of the extensive trade that flowed through Zanzibar. From Coin Community Family member "Sap" description at http://goccf.com/t/31210 "The Arabic legend reads, "Sultan Sa'id bin Barghash bin Sultan" in the central three lines, and "Allah hafizahu" (May Allah guard him) at top and bottom. Here's the Wikipedia article https://www.coincommunity.com/refer..._of_Zanzibar on this Sultan". According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pysa the Sultans name was incorrectly rendered and there appears to be at least one spelling mistaek  in this script. In particular, Bargash was the son of Sayyid Said and not vice-versa (as written on the coin). Squire  |
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Replies: 11 / Views: 3,876 |
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Posted 01/27/2013 7:16 pm
