The One Guinea gold coin from Saudi Arabia is the most important achievement the Saudis made as far as gold coins are concerned. This coin was only struck during two years – 1950 and 1957 – and they are the Middle Eastern version of the British Sovereign. The design is both attractive and artistic and based on calligraphy, yet the coin is popular around the world amongst investors and collectors for the past 60 years and will continue on this trajectory.
History & Background of One Guinea Gold Saudi Arabia Coins
The Saudi kingdom is the envy of many nations because of their incredible wealth from the extensive amount of oil that they possess. Their oil reserves are the second largest in the world behind Venezuela, and many people fail to realize that Saudi Arabia is a large producer of gold and has produced this precious metal for more than 3000 years. Believe it or not, King Solomon supposedly received his gold from a gold mine on the Arabian Peninsula that still yields impressive results to this very day.
The One Guinea Gold Saudi Arabia coins are the best and brightest in Saudi gold designs. They were created to represent the gold standard during the 1950s in the Middle East when this market was emerging, and they were modeled against British Gold sovereign coins. Due to their purity levels and weight matching the British Gold sovereign, they quickly became useful during trade settlements throughout the region. Saudi Arabia has produced a mere five different gold coins throughout their history, and the guineas were only struck twice, during 1950 and 1957, as a way to honor Hejira 1370.
They minted a combined total of 2 million pieces for both coins, which means this is a big issue when you’re dealing with coins that were only minted during two years. During the 1950 minting, they were pressed at Lahore, Pakistan which was the official mint. In 1957, the Saudi Royal Mint was established and located in Mecca, the holy city, and they handled the minting of the second set of coins. The face value of these coins is 40 Riyals, but their actual gold weight is 22 karats or .2354 ounces of gold.
Physical Characteristics: One Guinea Gold Saudi Arabia Coins
The Design
The obverse or front side of these coins is covered with a beautiful design using calligraphy that features a beaded circle that surrounds palm trees and cross swords. The words in the inscription are Arabic for “One Guinea” on the top of the coin. In the center of the coin you’ll locate the number 1, and on the bottom of the coin you can see the date that the coin was minted.
On the reverse or backside of the coin, you’ll discover a few phrases located on the side. The words “King of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” are at the top of the coin. Within the middle you’ll discover a deep tree and crossed swords. And at the bottom of the coin the name of the Saudi Arabian monarch at the time is stated. His name is Saud bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud.
The Specs
The One Guinea Saudi Arabian gold coin was only made in one size and it was the same size as the British sovereign coin. The overall specifications include the following:
- Gold fineness purity levels at 91.67%
- 52 mm of thickness
- 22 mm in diameter
- 98 g of mass
Pricing the One Guinea Saudi Arabia Gold Coin
The One Guinea Saudi Arabia Gold Coin possesses a face value of 40 Riyals and acts as legal tender within the kingdom. It’s possible if you really want to you could spend these rare coins to pay for services, goods, and other daily expenses, but this would be a foolish mistake to make.
Why? The intrinsic value of these rare gold coins is worth more than $250, so to only get 40 Riyals worth of value would be a big loss. The real worth of these coins is based on the spot price of gold. There’s also collectors value as well because these popular coins are wanted all around the world, and they’ve only minted 2 million pieces during two years, which makes these coins somewhat rare.
These unusual gold coins are unique and get their market value from the actual gold content contained within the coin. This is known as intrinsic value. The value that they’re worth on the market is crucial to determine their value when adding them to a retirement or investment portfolio. The gold price seesaws as it experiences daily fluctuations on trading days. You can find out the live spot price of gold to determine the value of these gold coins.
Can I Buy One Guinea Saudi Arabia Gold Coins for a Precious Metals IRA?
The One Guinea Saudi Arabia Gold Coin stands out because it possesses historical value and exceptional quality that many investors seem interested in. This lavish piece of gold is produced by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the only way it’s going to receive IRA approval is if it is deemed worthy by the IRS in the United States of America. The IRS is the only organization that can determine whether or not a coin or bar is considered a valuable asset for an IRA account because it needs to contain the right amount of gold purity to qualify. They have a rigorous set of standards that all coins and bars must meet in order to be accepted within an IRA.
And to be able to invest in an IRA, the IRS says that an account administrator that received IRS approval must manage your account. The agent handling your account can purchase coins directly from coin dealers across the globe and store, maintain, and safeguard these precious metals within a third-party vault.
To open an IRA account, you must deposit $5000 into the account and purchase this much worth of precious metals to get setup approval. And to continue adding to your account, you must make deposits in $1000 increments that you use to purchase platinum, silver, palladium, and gold bullion bars and coins.
Is the One Guinea Gold Saudi Arabia Coin acceptable within a precious metals IRA? This coin did not receive approval status because it lacks the necessary gold purity. The gold purity level is only .9167. The IRS requires a gold purity of .995, which this coin clearly doesn’t have.
The other standard is collectability. These coins are considered collector’s coins. The IRS does not allow collectible coins within a precious metals IRA account. So these coins fail both ways and will not receive approval.