Delhi AH 727 dinar Fr-453
This specimen was lot 538 in Stephen Album sale 50 (Santa Rosa, CA, September 2024), where it sold for $1,320. The catalog description[1] noted, "DELHI: Muhammad III b. Tughluq, 1325-1351, AV dinar, Delhi, AH727, Muhammad III with the title al-wathiq bi-ta'yid al-rahman 'trusting in the support of the Merciful', bold perfectly centered strike, XF." The sultans of Delhi struck an extensive series of gold coins (Fr-402 thru Fr-502) starting about AH 589 (1193 AD). Most of the rulers had very short tenures but Mohammad III survived twenty-six years (AH 725-752).
Wikipedia comments,
"The...Sultanate of Delhi was a late medieval empire primarily based in Delhi that stretched over large parts of the Indian subcontinent, for more than three centuries. The sultanate was established around c. 1206–1211 in the former Ghurid territories in India. The sultanate's history is generally divided into five periods: Mamluk (1206–1290), Khalji (1290–1320), Tughlaq (1320–1414), Sayyid (1414–1451), and Lodi (1451–1526). It covered large swaths of territory in modern-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, as well as some parts of southern Nepal."
The sultanate reached its territorial maximum during the reign of Muhammad bin Tughluq, reaching from Kashmir to Madras and from the Indus to Bengal. His issue of debased coinage encouraged counterfeiting and disrupted trade.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: gold, this specimen 12.82 g.
Catalog reference: G-D331.
- 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 50, featuring selections from the Dr. Robert A. Rosenfeld Collection, the Hakim Hamidi Collection, the Almer H. Orr III Collection and the Solar Collection, Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2024.
Link to:
- Delhi AH 726 dinar Fr-453 = 1325
- Delhi AH 736 tanka = 1335
- Delhi AH 738 6 gani = 1337
- Coins and currency dated 1326