Saudi Arabia Riyal 1935 to 1954

These are really pretty coins, in my opinion. Especially when they are fully uncirculated and lustrous, like the one in the picture. Nice!

Saudi Arabia minted these coins in 1/4, 1/2 and 1 riyal denominations between Hejira dates AH1346 and AH1374 (1927AD to 1954AD on the Gregorian calendar). They are made of silver.

The date and the denomination use eastern Arabic numerals shown here:

Most of these coins carry a small premium, say $5 to $15 US dollars, over their basic silver value. The $15 premium applies to fully uncirculated coins.

To figure the basic silver value, look up the price of silver at kitco.com and multiply it by the number of troy ounces of silver in your coin, as follows:

1/4 RIYAL, 19 mm diameter, 0.086 troy ounces silver
1/2 RIYAL, 25 mm diameter, 0.175 troy ounces silver
1 RIYAL, 31 mm diameter, 0.342 troy ounces silver


Now, if you have a coin dated AH1346 ro AH1348, you have a special date worth more than the *common dates* listed above:

1/4 RIYAL AH1346 or AH1348: 25 mm diameter, 0.178 troy ounces silver, add premiums of $100 for coins in average circulated condition

1/2 RIYAL AH1346 or AH1348: 28 mm diameter, 0.357 troy ounces silver, add premiums of $200 for coins in average circulated condition

1 RIYAL AH1346 or AH1348: 38 mm diameter, 0.711 troy ounces silver, add premiums of $100 for coins in average circulated condition

By way of an interesting history of this coin, an energetic collector named Aaron in Al Khobar, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia put us on to this article in Wikipedia.

The SS John Barry was a 7200-ton American liberty ship in World War II. The ship left its convoy under radio silence to go on a mission to Dhahran in Saudi Arabia when it was torpedoed 185 kilometers off the coast of Oman by the German submarine U-859 on 28 August 1944. Two crewmen were killed in the sinking and the survivors were rescued the next day. The SS John Barry was carrying a cargo of 3 million American-minted Saudi one-riyal silver coins.
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