Bengal AH 907 tanka
This specimen was lot 56360 in Stack's Bowers ANA sale (Pittsburgh, PA, August 2023), where it sold for $264. The catalog description[1] noted, "INDIA. Sultans of Bengal. Tanka, AH 907 (1502). Fathabad Mint. 'Ala al-din Mahmud Shah I. NGC MS-63."
Wikipedia comments,
"The Bengal Sultanate was a Sunni Muslim monarchy with Bengali, Turco-Persian, Pashtun and Abyssinian elites. The most prominent dynasties were the Ilyas Shahi, House of Ganesha and Hussain Shahi dynasty. The empire was known for its religious pluralism where non-Muslim communities co-existed peacefully. While Persian was used as the primary official, diplomatic and commercial language, it was under the Sultans that Bengali first received court recognition as an official language. The cities of the Bengal Sultanate are termed as Mint Towns where the historical taka was minted. In 1500, the royal capital of Gaur was the fifth-most populous city in the world. Other notable cities included the initial royal capital of Pandua, the economic hub of Sonargaon, the Mosque City of Bagerhat, and the seaport and trading hub of Chittagong. The Bengal Sultanate was a major trading center on the coast of the Bay of Bengal. Bengali ships and merchants traded across the region, including in Malacca, China, and the Maldives."
The Bengal sultanate was conquered by the Mughals, a process that took fifty years and was completed around 1576, when the last sultan was captured and killed at the battle of Rajmahal.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: silver.
Catalog reference: GG-B907 (This date unlisted).
- Album, Stephen, Checklist of Islamic Coins, 3rd Ed. Santa Rosa, Stephen Album Rare Coins, 2011.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, August 2023 Global Showcase Auction, World & Ancient Coins, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2023.
Link to:
- Bengal AH 864 tanka, Barbak Shah
- Bengal AH 922 tanka, Ala al-Din Husain Shah, Dar al-Darb mint
- Coins and currency dated 1502