The palm trees and crossed swords mean Saudi Arabia. But the rest is difficult for Westerners.

The first step is to figure out the date and denomination. This is easy with the help of the chart which gives eastern Arabic numerals alongside Arabic numerals. The date of the 2 ghirsh coin in our picture is 1379, which may seem like a long time ago. But, in fact, it is fairly recent. To convert from Islamic (Hijri, AH) to Western (Gregorian, BC, AD) date, use the IslamicFinder.org web site. AH dates are about 600 years earlier than AD dates, since the AH calendar is based on the time that Mohammed lived, about 600 years after Jesus Christ.

Note also, in our secondary picture, that some of the smaller denominations do not carry the palm/sword emblem. Value-wise, since these are modern coins made of copper-nickel, they are not valuable. A collector might pay $5 to $10 US dollars to add a *fully, absolutely uncirculated* specimen to his or her collection, but, for most coins, the value is less than $1 US dollar.

There are three noted exceptions to the low-value rule as called out in the coin catalogs. They are:

1356AH 1/4 ghirsh is worth $10 in average circulated condition, $100 in fully uncirculated

1356AH 1/2 ghirsh is worth $20 in average circulated condition, $150 in fully uncirculated

1356AH 1 ghirsh is worth $15 in average circulated condition, $120 in fully uncirculated

Use our Important Terminology page to convert these catalog values to actual buy and sell values.