Bengal AH 927 tanka
The first specimen was lot 2466 in Steve Album Auction 51 (Santa Rosa, CA, January 2025), where it sold for $312. The catalog description[1] noted, "BENGAL: Nasir al-Din Nusrat Shah, 1519-1531, AR tanka, Muzaffarabad, AH927 (in tiny numerals), border of scallops both sides, very scarce mint for this reign, NGC graded MS62, R. Completely misattributed on the slab, assigned to Shams al-Din Muzaffar II of Gujarat!"
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.
The second specimen was lot 42432 in Stack's Bowers Summer 2026 Global Showcase Auction (Pittsburgh, September 2026), where it sold for $5,368. The catalog description[2] noted, "INDIA. Bengal Sultanate. Gold Tanka, AH 927 (1520/1). Khairabad Mint. Nasir Al-Din Nusrat Shah. NGC MS-64. cf. G&G-B832 (for Silver Tanka). Quite a RARE issue of Nasir al-Din from Khairabad Mint, this lovely near-Gem yields a bold luster with sharp details and bountiful allure. We cannot find an example trading more recently than 2019, and we consequently expect much excitement for this example which is unlisted in Gold in Gordon and Goenka."
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: silver. The second specimen is gold, 10.61 g.
Catalog reference: G-B838.
- Album, Stephen, Checklist of Islamic Coins, 3rd Ed. Santa Rosa, Stephen Album Rare Coins, 2011.
- [1]Album, Stephen, Joseph Lang, Paul Montz, Michael Barry and Norman Douglas Nicol, Auction 51, featuring the Howard Daniel III Collection of Asian Coins, the Almer H. Orr III Collection of World Coins and the Joe Sedillot Collection of German Coins, Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2024.
- [2]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, Summer 2026 Global Showcase Auction, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2026.
Link to:
- Bengal AH 925 tanka, Nusrat Shah, Husainabad mint
- Bengal AH 928 tanka, Nusrat Shah, Arsah mint
- Bengal AH 930 tanka, Nusrat Shah
- Coins and currency dated 1521