IRAN, Pahlavis. Muhammad Reza Shah, AH 1320-1358 / AD 1941-1979. Medal AHS 1355 = AD 1976/7 (Gilt Bronze, 35 mm, 15.84 g, 12 h), mule on the 50th anniversary of the Pahlavi dynasty. Conjoined busts of Reza Shah (AHS 1304-1320 / AD 1925-1941) and Muhammad Reza Shah to left, each wearing full military attire. Rev. Coat of arms featuring crown at the top, flanked on either side by a lion bearing a sword, with various emblems displayed within the shield; a Persian couplet inside the ribbons: ‘marā dād farmūd-o – khod dāvar ast’ (‘He [i.e., God] gave me an order of justice, and He Himself is the Judge’); below, ‘1355 / be monāsebat-e āʾīn-e mellī-ye bozorgdāsht-e panjāhomīn sāl-e shāhanshāhī-ye Pahlavī’ (‘1355. On the occasion of the national ceremony celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Pahlavi dynasty’ in Persian). Apparently unique. In CCG encapsulation, graded PF 68 CAMEO. Proof.



This enigmatic medal is apparently a trial striking or mule that was never officially issued. The obverse, with the uniformed conjoined busts, was used on the official Pahlavi Golden Jubilee medals, while the reverse - bearing a slightly modified legend - was employed on the Norouz (New Year) medals of 1976. The die combination represented by the present specimen, however, appears to have been unknown until now, making it an important numismatic discovery.