Valuing Persian coins and Iranian banknotes

These interact rather than add. A rare mint in poor condition may bring less than a common mint in superb condition; the same rare mint in superb condition with a published pedigree can bring an order of magnitude more than either.

An asking price records what one seller hopes for. A realised price records what a competitive market actually paid on a given day. Auction archives are the only reliable public source of the latter, and most major houses keep theirs open and searchable indefinitely.

1. 1Search the exact type and reference number, not just the ruler.
2. 2Collect at least five comparable sales from the last three years.
3. 3Adjust for grade, centring and mint before comparing.
4. 4Add the buyer's premium — the hammer price is not what the buyer paid.
5. 5Discard outliers created by two determined bidders; take the median, not the maximum.

Iranian paper money is valued on a different set of variables from coinage. Signature combinations, prefix letters, replacement-note indicators, overprints from the 1979 transition, and specimen or cancelled status can each move a note from ordinary to genuinely scarce.

• ✦Condition dominates: an UNC note can be worth ten times the same note in Fine.
• ✦Imperial Bank of Persia issues and early Bank Melli notes carry the strongest premiums.
• ✦1979 overprints and revolutionary counter-stamps are a specialist field with volatile pricing.
• ✦Serial-number features — solid, ladder, low numbers — attract a separate collector base.

1. 1Assemble the paperwork first: provenance, invoices, any certificates and export documents.
2. 2Do not clean anything. Ever. It reliably reduces the price.
3. 3Get two independent opinions on the material before consigning.
4. 4Compare a straight dealer offer against auction net proceeds after commission, photography and insurance.
5. 5Sell coherent groups together — a completed series brings more than the sum of its parts.