Expert: Dmitry Livshits - 1/29/2010

Question
QUESTION: I have an Iranian 50 dinar coin that appears to match KM 1156 in design but is magnetic. KM 1156a is magnetic but does not have a crowned wreath. Are there other varieties? I have not found an adequate source to translate the coin date to help narrow the search

ANSWER: Hi John,
You have come across one of the many typographical and photographic errors in the Krause-Mishler catalog. There are many instances where the wrong picture, description, or date range are shown in this book.
In reality, the MS dated KM 1156a coins do have the crowned wreath just as the KM 1156 coins. The SH dated coins do not have the crown.
Coins like this occasionally have minor varieties as far as the size and position of certain legends, but a missing crown would be beyond that scope.
Thanks for the question! =)

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for your answer it definitely helps me. Can you point me in the direction of a way to translate the date. The date appears to be 2536 using the Malay- Persian line in standard international numeral system page of the catalog.

Answer
The year MS2536 (1977) makes perfect sense, being the second year of this series. The MS dating is the "Monarchic solar era", which began in 1976 and ended in 1979 with the overthrow of the Iranian monarchy during the Islamic revolution.
The MS date traces back to the founding of the Persian Monarchy in 559 B.C. and counts the years since then. For example 1977 + 559 = 2536, the MS date.
Thanks again for the questions! =)