AH 1370 (1950) Gold Guinea (Pound, KM-36)

The 1950 Saudi gold guinea was struck under King Abdulaziz ibn Saud, the founder of the modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in the years immediately following the post-WWII oil boom that transformed the kingdom from a desert federation into an emerging petro-state. The coin was produced not at a Saudi mint but under contract at the Philadelphia Mint in the United States - in part to settle Aramco oil royalty payments at a time when the kingdom preferred bullion to U.S. paper dollars - and was used both as a circulating gold coin and as a standard payment instrument inside the kingdom.

Although the issue is not particularly rare in lower mint state, true superb gem survivors are extremely scarce. NGC has certified only a handful of examples in MS 68 across the entire issue, with none graded finer. This is one of them - a textbook top-pop example with full original orange-gold mint bloom, no contact, and razor-sharp Arabic calligraphy on both faces.