Iran AH 1251 toman KM-806.3
This specimen was lot 572 in Stephen Album sale 47 (Santa Rosa, CA, September 2023), where it sold for $264. The catalog description[1] noted, "QAJAR: Muhammad Shah, 1837-1848, AV toman, Kirmanshahan, AH1251, type R, with the mint epithet dar al-dawla, bent, EF, R." The Qajars were a group of Turkic origin who lived in the area of Azerbaijan. They were sympathetic to the Safavids, who ruled in Persia from 1501-1736 AD. The Qajar Dynasty began when Mohammad Khan Qajar seized Mashhad (then under Durrani suzerainty – see Afghanistan) and put an end to the Afsharid Dynasty. The Qajars were forced to fight several defensive wars against Russia, losing territory each time. Debasement was the inevitable result. The type R standard (1 toman = 3.84 g) seems to have been used AH 1250-1253 only. The SCWC notes tomans were struck to this standard at Hamadan, Isfahan, Kirmanshahan, Mashhad, Rasht, Shiraz, Tabriz and Tehran with a few half tomans.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 3.84 g, gold, this specimen 3.84 g.
Catalog reference: A-2903, KM 806.3 (unlisted date).
- 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.
- 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 Norman Douglas Nicol, Auction 47, Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2023.
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