Sikh Empire AH 1246 falus
This specimen was lot 2288 in Steve Album Auction 54 (Santa Rosa, CA, January 2026), where it sold for $90. The catalog description[1] noted, "SIKH EMPIRE: AE falus, Peshawar, AH(1)246, in the name of Taimur Shah // 3-petal flower, mint & date around, overstruck on uncertain host, VF, RR." Taimur Shah, second king of the Durranis, died in 1793. The SCWC lists falus under Afghanistan for Ahmadshahi, Badakhshan, Balkh, Ghazni, Jalalabad, Kabul, Khanabad, Peshawar (KM 83 and 84), Qandahar, Sar-i Pol and Tashqurghan but not this one. The Sikhs were a religious sect formed in the fifteenth century and lived peacefully under the Mughals until the emperor Jahangir deemed them a threat in the early seventeenth century. Mughal attacks militarized the religion and eventually the Sikhs defeated the Mughals and established an empire in the Punjab, which survived until conquered by the British in 1849. They seized Peshawar from the Durranis in 1818 and annexed it in 1834. Falus was the Arabic name and paisa was the Hindu name for any low value copper coin.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: copper, this specimen 8.31 g.
Catalog reference: KM-unlisted, Herrli-unlisted, Valentine-750; Zeno-95277
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [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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