Delhi AH 726 dinar Fr-453
This specimen was lot 73605 in Stack's Bowers Collector's Choice sale (Costa Mesa, CA, February 2023), where it sold for $1,620. The catalog description[1] noted, "INDIA. Sultans of Delhi. Dinar, AH 726 (1325/6). Hadrat Delhi Mint. Mohammad III Bin Tughluq. NGC MS-63. A well-centered Dinar with sharp, bold legends. The surfaces offer tantalizing originality, showing rich golden brilliance and hardly any evidence of handling." 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). This is one of his more common issues.
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: 12.8 g, gold, this specimen 12.80 g.
Catalog reference: Fr-453; GG-D332.
- 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]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, February 2023 World Collectors Choice Online Auction, featuring the David Sterling Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2023.
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