Accidentally Convinced A Dealer That A Rare Silver Coin Was Aluminium

I only paid a few dollars. I suspected that the fair price of this coin in such an excellent condition was probably orders of magnitude higher.

Yes, to the extent that he didn't know it was from Yemen until I told him either.

Apparently my example is Y#5.5, 1364/43 (NGC $40 in XF). Compare the (much lower grade) example at Chiefa Coins.




Sorry for the blurry pics, still smartphone camera. Hope they give a decent idea of the (insanely good) condition...

About $9, as it happens (I'm rounding the amounts a bit - it was really 500 rubles), so I guess I might just make up the difference to that


Originally, there was a line of 5 coins, clearly all of similar origin, priced for 500 rubles (~$9) each.

I bought the pentagonal 1/8 riyal because I wanted a pentagonal coin and wanted a Yemenite states coin and this was both, and then next week I bought the huge 1/2 riyal because it was large and silver (but it turned out to also have an obvious removed mount, which I didn't immediately notice when I bought it).
The other three stayed there for the next five weeks or so, while I occasionally visited the dealer for more picking from his excellent 30 ruble (~$0.5) bargain bin.

On Friday, I finally received the money I was supposed to earn way back in November.
Just as I planned, on Sunday, I came to a nearby store for a Liechtenstein coin I wanted, but upon arrival I unexpectedly found out that the coin had since been sold.
So I suddenly ended up with $40-ish of extra spending money.

Anyway, I go to the place with the bargain bin, get a few coins from the bin (it had mostly been picked out, so there's not much still left) and a few cool commemorative crowns (mostly from random minor British territories).
The dealer still wants to sell me the Yemenite coins, because nobody else appears to be any interested in them, so he says that I can have two for 500 rubles (this comes out to something like $4.4 per coin, which is what I rounded down to $4 in the OP).

Now, due to a misinterpretation of the catalog (and because it looked so different from the worn silvers nearby), I was under the impression that this particular silver coin was aluminium (as I mentioned in the OP) since pretty much the first time I saw that bunch.
So I said as much to the dealer, and he said that he could give it to me for an extra 100 rubles (a bit under $2).

Anyway, I bought the coin, came home, tried to attribute it, and finally realized that it was, in fact, silver and just that good.
At which point I started the thread (because I really had no idea what to do).


...Sorry for such a large explanation.

TL/DR - I guess I should just give him the extra 400 rubles and explain that the coin was, in fact, silver. Will try to do just this on Saturday (his shop won't be open until then).

Looks like a Y5.5 AH1362/44 My older KM catalog shows $40 in XF and typically available for less retail. I'd say you have a coin worth about $20 or so.

Not sure why you thought it might be aluminium. Yemen didn't strike aluminum till thirty years later and none of them look anything like this coin.

I agree with you and jbuck.

Regardless of what the coin is actually worth, that's the price the dealer wanted and you still got a good buy. That is what cherry pickers hope to find and the dealer priced it so he would make a profit.

Let us know how it goes on Saturday. Once that is over, you can look at those coins and really enjoy owning them.

In case you wanted to know how this ended...

I went to the dealer today and explained that the coin was, in fact, silver. At which point he told me that in that case it was a bonus for me, and that he didn't pay that much for it, anyway.

I proceeded to further confirm that the poor guy wouldn't know a rare silver coin if it hit him, by cherrypicking him out of a semi-key 1901-O Barber quarter (for a price that barely qualified as junk silver).

I agree. Seems like a good place to continue to visit.

I kept seeing the years 1337-1366, and was impressed that such an old coin could be so affordable. Then I wondered how they could make coins out of aluminum in the 14th century when aluminum wasn't isolated until the mid 1800's... that's when I realized they use a different calendar! cool coin!