The Achaemenid Daric (515 BCE – 330 BCE)
The daric, introduced under Darius I around 515 BCE, was struck from gold of remarkable purity (~95–98%) and weighed about 8.4 g. Its obverse depicts the Great King in the role of archer-warrior, kneeling or running with bow and spear; the reverse is an irregular incuse punch. Twenty silver sigloi made one daric. Until the conquest of Persia by Alexander, the daric was the international gold standard of the eastern Mediterranean and changed hands as far west as Athens.
Carradice's five sub-types (I–V) trace stylistic evolution across two centuries. Most surviving darics come from Type IIIb and IV, struck at Sardis under Artaxerxes II and III. See the dedicated daric reference page for types and dating criteria.
The Islamic gold dinar (696 CE onward)
The Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan reformed coinage in 696 CE, abandoning Byzantine and Sasanian imitations in favour of a purely epigraphic dinar of 4.25 g. The reform fixed the gold dinar to silver dirham ratio at 1:10 and produced the iconography that would dominate Islamic numismatics for a millennium. Iranian-issuing dynasties from the Tahirids to the Ghaznavids and Seljuqs continued to strike dinars to this standard.
The Safavid ashrafi (1500s – 1700s)
Safavid gold — the ashrafi — was struck to a roughly 3.5 g standard for export and royal gifts rather than circulation. Shah Abbas I's ashrafi from Isfahan carries the Shi'a kalima on one face and the ruler's name with mint and date on the reverse, in Nastaʿliq script. Surviving examples are rare and command premiums far above bullion.
The Qajar toman (1789 – 1925)
The Qajar gold toman is the dynasty's most recognisable issue. Fath-Ali Shah's tomans (1797–1834) introduced the seated portrait and Lion-and-Sun reverse that would define Iranian gold for a century. Naser al-Din Shah's reign produced the bulk of surviving Qajar gold, including spectacular 5- and 10-toman commemoratives struck for foreign visitors and diplomatic gifts.
The Pahlavi gold series (1926 – 1979)
The Pahlavi gold series — ¼, ½, 1, 2½, 5 and 10 pahlavi pieces, all of 0.900 fineness — are the most-traded Persian gold of the modern era. The 1-pahlavi weighs exactly 8.136 g, containing 7.32 g of pure gold, and trades today essentially as bullion. Bank Markazi restrikes after 1971 carry a small mintmark; original strikes do not.
What Iranian gold is worth
Value splits cleanly in two. Modern pahlavis and late Qajar gold are priced from their metal: multiply the pure-gold weight by the current spot price and add a dealer premium, usually 3–8% for common dates. Ancient and pre-modern gold is priced as a collectable, where a well-centred, sharply struck daric can bring many times the value of a worn one of identical weight.
- Type and sub-type — a Carradice Type I daric is worth a multiple of the common Type IV.
- Mint and date — legible mint names and dates on Islamic and Qajar gold add substantial premiums.
- Strike and centring — more decisive on ancient gold than wear, since gold rarely corrodes.
- Provenance — documented old-collection pedigree is increasingly required for ancient material.
Authentication and storage
Weigh to 0.01 g, measure the diameter, and run a specific-gravity test — pure gold sits at 19.3, and the common 18-karat Lebanese Pahlavi forgeries fall well short. Cast copies of ancient gold betray themselves through soft detail, seam lines and surface bubbles under 10× magnification. Gold is chemically inert and survives almost any environment except mechanical abrasion: store in inert capsules, never PVC flips, and never clean a surface you cannot restore.
Further reading: our collector guides on grading and authentication, the gold coinage hub, and the glossary.