Delhi AH 742 tanka
This specimen was lot 674 in Steve Album Auction 54 (Santa Rosa, CA, January 2026), where it sold for $1,920. The catalog description[1] noted, "DELHI: Muhammad b. Tughluq, 1325-1351, AV tanka, Delhi, AH742, bold strike, VF-XF." Numismatically, the sultans of Delhi are best known for 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, such as this six gani, encouraged counterfeiting and disrupted trade.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: gold, this specimen 10.68 g.
Catalog reference: G-D527.
- Album, Stephen, Checklist of Islamic Coins, 3rd Ed. Santa Rosa, Stephen Album Rare Coins, 2011.
- Friedberg, Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg, Gold Coins of the World, From Ancient Times to the Present, 9th ed., Clifton, NJ: Coin and Currency Institute, 2017.
- [1]Album, Stephen, Joseph Lang, Paul Montz, Michael Barry and Hanbing Feng, Auction 54, featuring selections from the Kenneth A. Bovenkamp Collection of Ottoman Coins, Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2025.
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