well...i always wanted this set ever since i was 6 years old and walked into an antique shop in the center of manama (its silver so jewelry shops and antique shops sell it only..and costs to much for the stingy coin dealers )....and today i finaly got it by walking into the same antique shop i went to all those years ago...

only 15,000 ever minted..the only proof set ever minted by bahrain..all sterling silver...and has a guarantee for a refund (well...refund of the amount it costed when it was minted...costs much more now) when returned to the bahrain monetary agency (now central bank of bahrain)

wont bore you with the talking here are some pics..




my fav coin in the set:-



nice scenery:-






the antique shop belongs to another famous local collector...same first name as mine also ..Ahmed Al-Fardan...he collects antiques stamps coins etc.... found a new shop to start building my bahraini coin collection at also...has a wide range of all the proof coins minted in bahrain all silver and pretty sweet looking....also has a few books about all the coins i liked a particular one about all the coins used in bahrain since the rise of islam until now ..includes awesome pics and also contains info about the variety of european coins used in bahrain. written in both arabic and english ....

oo and the shop also sells some other middle eastern silver proof coins like uae kuwait etc and some pretty sweet silver rupees and maria thresea coins...and some butchered george v coins made into necklaces ...

Nice set RD, I was born that year, so I have a thing for anything 1983, lol. I love those simple designs like the 250 Fil, it's almost like a medal but meant to be spent.

thanks v yea i know i have the same thing with coins minted in 1991

actually the 500fils and 250 fils never circulated..they were only issued as commemorative's for collecting and minted only in silver

the 500fils for the founding of isatown and the 250fils for the food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (f.a.o) with "lets work together to distribute food for everyone" written in arabic on it

Superb set RD, well done on obtaining it!

There's one thing I hate about proof coins, that's trying to take photos of them!!! I always end up with a reflection of me, my camera or the ceiling!!!


Clive.

ai xD had to take the picture in a weird way in order to avoid that .... used flash from far but no help for the close ups since it was so bright nothing can be seen except for a white stain in the pic ..so the pic ended up dark without flash

now im trying to start a project in collecting about all the currency used in bahrain....first starting with the not so old...slowley working my way in to the gulf rupee, european coins used , islamic coins and than roman greek etc

they are all easy to collect and many old local collectors i talked to collected this type of set at first...and well ..as i said old collectors...so most of em are selling their collections now ..(either that or donating it to places...sigh)

prob is up to the gulf rupee i can manage but the european ones will get kinda tuff.... since ill need to find some portuguese colony coins and netherlands colony coins ,etc... and maria theresa thalers... (so many restrikes selling over here and i am only looking for the original ones..not restrikes) and so far i havnt seen any book indicating which roman and greek coins etc were used before islamic coins came out.

anyway this project will definetly cost alot...and take a long long time to finish ..but hey ....its always fun collecting coins from ones own country ...since they are the easiest coins to get .. and most locals know about the coins..

so far got all the post 1965 circulating coins done... need the banknotes..also got some gulf rupee done..but not all...alot left to go

Good luck RD!

I had a similar idea with English/British coins but have stopped collecting most British Milled and now collect Anglo-Saxon/Norman/Plantagenet coins, part of my heritage I guess!

thanks YeOlde

The 1780 is a nice coin, but all are restrikes, no matter how old they look. They do have an interesting history though, they have been minted all over the world under the direction of the Austrian mint, and mainly for trade in the Middle East. I think it's only minted in Austria now, but it's interesting to think of all the places that did mint it, and kept all the specs the same.

Anyway, the ones from the 1750's and so on before the restrikes are not really uncommon, but they seem to cost in the $50 range on eBay. I was trying to get one, but I didn't want to spend that much, so I figure I'll wait until a nice one shows up and bid on that instead.

Good luck RD!

thanks v