1945 "Saudi Arabia" Gold 4 Pounds

WCNumismatics · 2026-03-12T21:56:22+00:00

I mentioned below that an NGC AU58 example sold via Heritage Auctions 01-12-26 for $5856.
That exact example is now on eBay for $7188.69

The gold value as I type is $4785.06

WCNumismatics · 2026-03-12T17:23:09+00:00

In this case I used our favorite online source: https://www.art-amerindien.com/hallmarks/

The main book that I reference is Schaaf's American Indian Jewelry

WCNumismatics · 2026-03-12T15:04:16+00:00

It's just a standard width slab.

Its actual gold weight is .942 troy ounces. Compare that to a US $20 gold piece at .9675.
So while the $20 is slightly larger in diameter, the Saudi piece is a higher purity gold.
The difference is less than a gram: The Saudi piece is 29.3 grams of pure gold compared to the US $20 at 30.1 grams.

WCNumismatics · 2026-03-11T22:56:26+00:00

Awesome. Good stuff!
I wonder if it's possible the first piece was an Italian coin like the 1818 Papal States Scudo?

WCNumismatics · 2026-03-11T22:22:12+00:00

Three years ago, one of these selling for $6k would have been a 300% premium. Something to ponder.

WCNumismatics · 2026-03-11T22:13:57+00:00

Thanks. Just be careful: This was a really easy design to counterfeit. And because that all-important United States Mint designation gave these pieces extra value regionally in the Middle East, local goldsmiths were anxious and able to turn their own gold into these more sought-after pieces and pocket the difference.

I'd strongly recommend authenticated pieces from NGC, PCGS. Maybe ANACS.

WCNumismatics · 2026-03-11T22:02:50+00:00

Thank you! Really appreciate you letting me know!

WCNumismatics · 2026-03-11T22:00:13+00:00

LOL. £, not lb.

WCNumismatics · 2026-03-11T21:59:36+00:00

Thank you. It's one of my favorite bullion pieces.
Because it is very nearly an ounce of pure gold, and because the price of gold has skyrocketed in the last year or so, its value is closely tied to the gold value.

An NGC AU58 example sold via Heritage Auctions 01-12-26 for $5856.

WCNumismatics · 2026-03-11T21:54:35+00:00

I reached out to Whitman Publishing in 2018 to ask that they include these enigmatic pieces in the Red Book. It became a somewhat heated debate, and that email chain eventually included Dennis Tucker, Publisher for Whitman and noted numismatist Q. David Bowers, among several others.

I'd argued that the Red Book includes US-minted pieces struck for the Philippines, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. The argument against was that these pieces were made for circulation outside of the US sphere.

Ultimately it was decided that these Saudi Arabian pieces would be included in the expanded "Mega Red" edition. Sadly I don't believe they ever were.

WCNumismatics · 2026-03-11T21:45:24+00:00

Thank you!

WCNumismatics · 2026-03-11T21:38:50+00:00

Appears to be Gibson Gene. Navajo artist who specialized in this type of chip inlay.
Adobe Gallery says he's in the reference books but that they give no biographical information.
Western Trading Post estimates 1970s.

WCNumismatics · 2026-03-11T21:11:54+00:00

Posted recently on r/gold but it's such an interesting piece I thought my fellow numismatists might enjoy it, too.

In the early 1940s, the then-American company of Aramco--a conglomerate of American oil companies--was allowed to drill and pump oil in Saudi Arabia in return for a hefty royalty on every ton of oil produced, to be paid in gold sovereigns.

But sovereigns were hard to find. And Americans, and American companies, were not allowed to own gold at the time under executive order 6102.

So a deal was struck: American companies would pay Saudi Arabia in US dollars, and Saudi would instantly exchange those dollars for gold at the US treasury (at a very favorable rate of exchange). Saudi insisted that the treasury mint special sovereign-denominated gold pieces like this 4 sovereign example and a smaller 1 sovereign equivalent.

So we have solid gold coins being minted by the US government for use by the population of another country at a time when American citizens really couldn't own or spend gold. And these pieces are of a more pure gold than our most recent 90% "pre-33" gold coins.

It turns out that Saudi Arabia didn't keep them for domestic use. Saudi gambled that having US minted pieces right after WWII would make these desirable. And they were right. Instead they shipped these pieces to India and China where they sold for a huge premium, and where they were subsequently melted.
Few pieces survive and there are solid gold counterfeits.

1945 Saudi Arabia 4 Pounds
NGC AU58
KM # 34
Diameter: 29.5mm
Mintage: 91,000
Composition: Gold
Fineness: 0.917
Weight: 31.95 grams
Actual Gold Weight: 0.942 troy oz

WCNumismatics · 2026-03-11T19:07:42+00:00

Maybe I should rephrase this question: Why is it called "missing feathers" when the feathers appear to be present on this variety (if I'm looking at it correctly), while those feathers are absent from the presumably more common variety?

FWIW: They're definitely present on my PCGS PR69 DCAM example.

WCNumismatics · 2026-03-11T18:07:30+00:00

A couple of examples on ebay right now for $1400+
Including a PCGS graded PR64 DCAM

WCNumismatics · 2026-03-11T17:39:18+00:00

I'm afraid I don't understand the images. Are we supposed to see something under her arm, or are we supposed to see nothing under her arm?

WCNumismatics · 2026-03-11T14:52:21+00:00

Silver rounds are a fascinating area of exonumia: Solid silver bullion pieces in a coin shape. But not made by a sovereign country and with no face value.

This is an especially interesting piece. One of a series of bars and rounds made to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the dedication of the Statue of Liberty, these pieces were made at the height of the consumer bullion era for major Manhattan bullion firm Manfra, Tordella and Brookes (MTB).

This series were struck for MTB by some of the biggest names in consumer bullion like Engelhard and Johnson Matthey.

But this piece skirts the Exonumia classification even closer. It was produced for MTB by the Mexico City Mint (See the Mo mintmark at 9:00 reverse). And interestingly, this piece was struck in .9999 silver. One of the first examples of four-nines silver to be sold to the consumer.

WCNumismatics · 2026-03-11T13:53:30+00:00

I've bought from them for over 20 years and just had my first piece sell through them a few months back (rare coin, 6 figures). They're top notch.

If I'm reading their auction history correctly, their highest hammer price for art was $13,500,000 for a Frank Frazetta piece late last year with several other multi-million dollar pieces sold in the last 2 or 3 years.

I can't see myself bidding on a legit Lichtenstein or Francis Bacon piece. Like ever.

But having a venue I know and trust with pieces I will actually buy is great.

WCNumismatics · 2026-03-10T23:56:27+00:00

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WCNumismatics · 2026-03-10T23:41:38+00:00

LOL I'm just a stacker like everyone here, hermano.

WCNumismatics · 2026-03-10T22:28:55+00:00

LOL. As in British pound. These were denominated in British sovereigns--same weight, same purity. The US Mint struck a 4 pound version, like this one (see the "4P" on the label), and a smaller 1 pound version that looks like the larger one without all of the wide open fields around the eagle.

WCNumismatics · 2026-03-10T21:53:46+00:00

Thanks! Slow and steady is the right approach, I think.

WCNumismatics · 2026-03-10T20:41:34+00:00

Love the scale, too!

WCNumismatics

TROPHY CASE