Afghanistan AH 1202 rupee KM-273
This specimen was lot 2175 in Steve Album Auction 55 (Santa Rosa, CA, May 2026), where it sold for $360. The catalog description[1] noted, "DURRANI: Taimur Shah, 1772-1793, AR rupee, Balkh, AH1202, with the mint epithet umm al-bilad ("mother of the cities"); bold strike, VF, RR." Taimur Shah, second ruler of the Durranis, is listed in the SCWC under Afghanistan. He had rupees struck in Ahmadshahi, Attock, Bakhar, Balkh (shown here, struck AH 1195, 1198, 1200-01 and 1205), Dera, Derajat, Herat, Kabul, Kashmir (KM 563), Mashhad (KM B640), Multan, Peshawar and Sind. We've listed some of Taimur's issues under Iran but Balkh is a long stretch from Iran. Taimur left many sons, who fought among themselves for the throne while the kingdom broke up. Wikipedia comments, "The Durrani Empire (Pashto: د درانيانو ټولواکمني), also called the Sadozai Kingdom and the Afghan Empire, was founded and built by Ahmad Shah Abdali in parts of Central Asia, Middle East and South Asia. At its maximum extent, the empire ruled over the modern-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as parts of northeastern and southeastern Iran, eastern Turkmenistan, and northwestern India."
Recorded mintage: unknown but scarce.
Specifications: 11.2-11.6 g, silver, this specimen 11.04 g.
Catalog reference: A-3100, KM 273.
- Album, Stephen, Checklist of Islamic Coins, 3rd Ed. Santa Rosa, Stephen Album Rare Coins, 2011.
- Michael, Thomas, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800, 7th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2016.
- [1]Album, Stephen, Joseph Lang, Paul Montz, Michael Barry and Hanbing Feng, Auction 55, featuring Selections from the Swamperbob Gurney Collection of Cap & Ray 8 Reales, the Kenneth A. Bovenkamp Collection of Ottoman Coins and the 1914 Collection of World Coins, Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2026.
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