Mughal Empire AH 1018/5 sawai rupee KM-158.3

Stephen Album sale 50, lot 554

This specimen was lot 554 in Stephen Album sale 50 (Santa Rosa, CA, September 2024), where it sold for $288. The catalog description^[1] noted, "MUGHAL: Jahangir, 1605-1628, AR sawai rupee, Ahmadabad, AH1018 year 5, type with 'inayat couplet, superb strike, XF-AU, ex SARC Auction 20 Lot 1238. The sawai rupee is approximately 25% heavier than a standard rupee." The silver rupee had traditionally weighed about 10.8-10.9 grams; we don't know what impelled Jahangir to issue this type with a weight about 25% over the standard. He may have intended it as a prestige coin; few survive today, suggesting that they were rapidly removed from circulation and melted. It is known dated years 3, 4, 5 and 6.

Recorded mintage: unknown.

Specification: 14.0-14.4 g, silver, this specimen 14.07 g.

Catalog reference: KM-158.3.

Source:

• Album, Stephen, Checklist of Islamic Coins, 3rd Ed. Santa Rosa, Stephen Album Rare Coins, 2011.
• Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
• ^[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:

• AH 1015/2 (1607) square mohur, Lahore mint
• AH 1018/4 sawai mohur, Agra mint
• AH 1018/5 sawai mohur, Agra mint
• AH 1019/5 square rupee, Lahore mint
• AH 1020/6 sawai rupee, Kabul mint
• Coins and currency dated 1609