The calligraphy in the middle of the coin says "Bismillah Al-Rahman Al-Raheem" = In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.. Nice design too
Normally I can follow the various wanderings of your mind (sometimes after much thought and reflection), but I have no idea wtf you mean... are you really saying good people should stop being good in order to help the world become truly one?
Someone posted the Royal silver 10 dirham silver coin at ebay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-dirham-s...ltDomain_0&hash=item4aaf97221e#ht_4585wt_1393
The One World 10 Dirham coin was commissioned by our Asian wholesaler for their Malaysian and Indonesian market. They provided the artwork as a pdf, which we cut into dies with a machine--so it does not have the hand-engraved look of our other coins--but when you see them they are spectacular--especially the calligraphy side. The retail price is out of our hands--we don't sell them to the public. If you want the 10 Dirhams, please ask one of our Club Members to order some as part of an optional coin order. We have permission to deliver limited amounts to Members. We modified the lettering and cut new dies after the first 3,000 coins to provide a better look, so there are two versions of the One World 10 Dirham out there. The differences can only be seen when the two versions are side by side--subtle changes. Please don't dismiss the English phrase on the coin as trite. It was an attempt to bridge cultures. The calligraphy was developed by a very spiritual artist, well-known in Malaysia. The coin is for the Islamic market. Each coin sold through our wholesaler comes with a certificate of authenticity signed by our refiner, Pablo Robles, a description of the coin, and is presented in a beautiful gift box. We are grateful to SG Net, Victor Foo, Eric Tan, and Terry Ghani for developing such a beautiful coin and presentation and honoring us by commissioning Royal Silver Company to mint the One World 10 Dirhams here in Bolivia. Our specialty is extra-fine silver, .99999 pure Ag, so these Dirhams are the purest ever minted. Yes, they weigh 29.75 grams each and fit the standard 39mm capsule. The Club Members' only coin is not ready yet, we have been modifying the artwork more than usual, as we have become more aware of the artistic value of our coins. We are incorporating a level of detail probably never before seen in a bullion coin. On the reverse (our logo side) we plan to incorporate a novel feature that was developed over a decade of research by the top engravers at the US Mint, but never struck into a coin because the bureaucrats in charge were afraid of failure. If we can't get the novel feature ready by the time the obverse (featured animal side) is ready, then we will mint a 2011 version, and hope the novel feature will work for a 2012 version. This novel feature has never been tried before. Like I say, it was a research project at the US Mint that took a decade to develop. If we (we, meaning our engraver and die maker) can pull it off, it will astound the coin world. I don't even want to hint what it might be, because it may not be physically possible, even though Mr. Tom Rogers says that the concept is feasible and he worked 10 years on it before the project was abandoned by the powers that be. Also, the reverse die might be more expensive than normal, since the level of detail required will be measured in 1/1000th of an inch. Such small lines tend to become clogged with fine bits of silver after just a few strikes--so I can understand why the managers of the US Mint were reluctant to proceed with the technique. Dante and his minting crew might not be able to make but a few coins at a time before cleaning the dies. Who knows? Such a feature may be impossible to make cheaply enough to sell as a bullion coin. But when I heard that such a thing was possible, I told Tom to go ahead and begin working on it. I like to push the boundaries of the possible. We'll see... American collectors will recognize our engraver, Mr. Tom Rogers, from his renowned career as Master Engraver of The United States Mint. So I'm not blowing smoke--if Tom says he spent a decade developing a novel engraving feature to be incorporated into US Mint special coins, please be assured it will be amazing when we put it on the reverse of our coins, IF our team can pull it off. If we succeed, then Royal Silver Company coins will become the must-have coins of the year. Our Members should do well buying and re-selling. Now that I've mentioned our plans here, I guess we better work hard to pull it off. We have quite a few Club Members in Australia, so if you know one and you want to own a Dirham for your collection, you can ask him or her to order Dirhams as part of their right to buy optional coins for wholesale price. We don't offer the COA, or box, when you order from us--but then Members don't have to pay $86 per coin either. The Dirhams will arrive in the usual airtight capsule, foam protection, and our standard--the world's purest silver rounds. I am grateful to the stacker THUCYDIDES79 for his interpretation of the writing on the calligraphy side (I could read the English, obviously, but was never quite sure we had the other side right--I was so afraid to get a line wrong and have it say something idiotic--thanks for letting me know it is legible and reads properly-- My ignorance of other languages and cultures is a fault I would like to correct--hopefully time will allow me to learn more--making the One World Dirham was a lesson in history--dirhams and dinars may be the oldest standard-measure coins. It is an honor to make them. (I just wish the design didn't have so much open real estate on the One World side--my Lord! it takes a lot of effort to make that side perfect. We ate the cost a lot of coins being returned to us, which was a humbling experience, let me tell you. Pride goeth before the fall.... Quoting my favorite poem by Coleridge: "A sadder and a wiser man, he woke the morrow morn." Best regards Brian
THanks Brian, enjoyed reading that post. I love the obverse of the coin jsut from the photos. Hopefully I can find one to put with my cats and macaws!
Regarding Dirhams: It will not be possible for us to sell Dirhams, even to Club Members, outside of our agreement with SG NET. There is great demand for Dirhams, we have limited capacity to produce Dirhams, and SGNet rightly called my attention to the fact that they commissioned the coins and have exclusive rights. The good news is that Tom Rogers (former Master Engraver of the US Mint) is finishing up the artwork on a new coin. We won't have the reverse with latent imagery ready yet, but we might make a reverse proof, such as the special reverse US Platinum Proofs, where the frosted and polished areas are reversed, so the coin will be different on both sides from our current offerings. Regards Brian
The 10 Dirham is a coin that is meant to 'resurrect' the old 10 Dirham Islamic coin, thus the Chinese market would not be optimal ( why should the Chinese go crazy about someone else's history, since they are full of their own ) Maybe the far western Chinese province of Xinjiang could be targeted as they are bordering Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and other 'muslim' countries and they have muslims living there. But regular Chinese people will not go after the 10 Dirham. Reason that the Malaysian flag is in the background is because of the majority of the population is muslim in Malaysia, and their former prime minister Dr. Muhamad Mahatir has been talking about returning back to the gold/silver standard, and the Malays have experienced first hand, what can happen when one is involved with paper money and when they lost large amounts of wealth during the crisis in South East Asia a few years ago.
Hey BEF, Dusty is busy playing with his boys. You will have your Shark to play with soon : ) Little Miss must be away, no one to stir and play eh : )
