10 Pahlavi Gold Coin

The 10 Pahlavi is the largest of the modern Iranian Pahlavi gold coins, a heavy bullion-style piece struck under Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. The example shown carries his uniformed left-facing portrait on the obverse and the crowned Lion and Sun of Iran flanked by laurel wreaths on the reverse, with Persian inscriptions and the date.

The Pahlavi was Iran's gold coin denomination during the twentieth-century monarchy, issued in fractions and multiples that included the quarter, half, one, two-and-a-half, five, and ten Pahlavi. As the top multiple, the 10 Pahlavi is a substantial gold coin held mainly for its metal value and as a store of wealth rather than for everyday circulation.

The date on this piece is expressed in Iran's Imperial (Shahanshahi) calendar, which the government briefly adopted in the mid-1970s in place of the usual solar Hijri years. A reading such as 2537 or 2538 corresponds to the late 1970s CE, near the very end of Pahlavi rule.

The Pahlavi dynasty ruled Iran from 1925 to 1979, and gold Pahlavi coins were introduced under Reza Shah before continuing under his son, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, who reigned from 1941 until the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Over that period the coins carried the reigning shah's portrait together with the national Lion and Sun emblem, a symbol of Iranian statehood used on flags, seals, and coinage.

The multi-denomination gold Pahlavi series functioned partly as circulating money and increasingly as an official bullion and savings instrument, giving Iranians a trusted, government-guaranteed way to hold gold. The 10 Pahlavi, as the largest denomination, was the flagship of this series.

In 1976 the Iranian government replaced the solar Hijri calendar with an Imperial calendar counted from the founding of the Achaemenid Persian empire, so coins of the following few years bear dates in the 2530s rather than in the 1350s. The 2537–2538 dating of this coin places it in roughly 1978–1979, the closing years of the monarchy; after the 1979 revolution the shah's portrait and the royal Lion and Sun were removed from Iranian coinage.

The 10 Pahlavi is a large, thick gold coin with the warm yellow color of high-purity gold. Pahlavi gold was struck in a fixed fineness, so on this top denomination the flan is noticeably heavy and broad compared with the smaller Pahlavi fractions; size and weight are among the quickest ways to tell the 10 Pahlavi from a 5, 2.5, or 1 Pahlavi of the same design.

The obverse shows the bare-headed, left-facing bust of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi in a military-style uniform, encircled by a Persian legend naming him and his titles. The reverse displays the crowned Lion holding a sword with the rising Sun behind it, set between laurel or olive branches, with the denomination and the date in Persian numerals below.

Attribution rests on reading the Persian legends and, above all, the date. Because these coins can be dated in either the solar Hijri or the Imperial calendar, a date in the 2530s (such as 2537 or 2538) signals an Imperial-calendar issue of the late 1970s. Matching the portrait, the denomination wording, and the date against a reference for Mohammad Reza Shah's gold coinage confirms both the type and the year.

The 10 Pahlavi is fundamentally a gold bullion coin, so its value is anchored to its substantial gold content and moves with the international gold price. Because it is the largest Pahlavi denomination, it contains far more gold than the common one Pahlavi, and its price is correspondingly higher.

Beyond metal value, factors such as the specific date, overall preservation, and originality of surfaces affect what a given coin brings. Some dates and finishes are scarcer than others, and pieces that have been cleaned, mounted as jewelry, or damaged trade at a discount to clean, original examples. Certified problem-free coins generally command the strongest prices.

Because pricing is driven mainly by the gold market and by date and condition among collectors, figures should be treated as general context rather than fixed quotes. For a coin like this, confirming that it is genuine, unmounted gold of full weight is the single biggest factor in its value.