A scarce Pick 4a Qatar
and Dubai Currency Board 25 Riyals will be offered on Friday, August 4, in our Official
Auction of the ANA World’s Fair of Money in Denver. Though they are now
separate, Qatar and Dubai were once linked together as members of the Trucial
States. At that time they were a banking union for six years during which they
shared the same currency.
Initially, it was the
Arabian Gulf Currency Agreement, signed in 1965, which linked the Trucial
States of Qatar, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Bahrain. Things didn’t work out with the
four states joined together so Qatar and Dubai split off and signed the Qatar
and Dubai Currency Agreement in March 1966. That agreement created both a
Currency Board and a common currency. Five directors made up the board with two
from each state, and one expert from an unrelated country. Qatar had more
control or seniority over the union as more Qatar notes were circulated than
Dubai notes. Qatar was at the time responsible for the finances of the Currency
Board and that ultimately made it responsible for both losses and profits.
Qatar and Dubai placed
orders for coins and banknotes with the British Royal Mint and Bradbury
Wilkinson. Eventually six denominations were printed: the one, five, ten,
twenty-five, fifty and one hundred riyals. We are very fortunate to be able to
offer a very rare issued 25 Riyals (Pick 4a). Typically issued notes of this
variety are seen with graffiti or annotations in the falcon’s head watermark
area to the right of center.
The example to be offered
as lot 30359 in our August auction has great centering, with typical handling found
in notes graded by PMG in Very Fine 25 condition. However, it is seldom that
these notes do not have defects like tears, multiple pinholes and major
staining. This note does not exhibit any of those problems.
With this and other
important world currency, we are anticipating a collector driven auction in
August. To include your valuable world pieces in a future auction, or to
inquire about our auction process and receive free evaluations, please contact
our World Currency Specialist at Aris@stacksbowers.com.
