Another couple of coins in the 'bag' that I purchased were these two that were described as belonging to the Malwa Sultanate: The first, a copper coin (Falus) and the second a silver coin (Giyath Shah - half Rupee) Anything that you can tell me about these coins I would be grateful to hear.
I am no expert, sorry. I have also a Malwa coin.... AV Tanka 26mm. 11.04 g. Sultan Ala al-Din Mahmud Shah I 1436-69 He also called himself the, "Second Alexander"! at this time in history 95 percent of present day India, was under the control of the Sultan of Dehli.
These are all, mostly modern coins and hence really doesn't belong in this section of CT. But, to answer your question, see https://books.google.com/books?id=vikaAAAAIAAJ...
I just can't spend another night transcribing Arabic coins for someone else . It takes too much time, especially when I can't read or write it...
Not really my bag. I want to put this out there though for previous poster. Some members are so common to this (ancient) forum that we post some not so ancients because we're more likely to get feedback from members were comfortable with. To me its just fine. Just saying
Those are two nice coins TC, I'm happy that you posted them here. If it was in the world coin section then you would probably get 2 responses. Us ancients guys(and girls) had best stick together!
These coins are not always easy to attribute and i have no references at hand at the moment. On the first coin the left picture is upside down. The second coin you attribute as a 1/2 rupee issued under Ghiyath Shah. The denomination of the coins of the Malwa sultans are Tankas, not rupees i think. (Roughly, Rupees are Moghul and later) A 1/2 Tanka should weigh about 5 grams. I can not exclude that the name of the ruler you state is correct. But on the coin itself (right picture) the visible text reads "Mahmud Shah" on top and under the line "Sultan"
@THCoins Thank-you. That is the sort of help I am looking for. I am hoping to find a list that shows the 'Falus', the 'Tanka', the 'Rati', the 'Jital', etc. and their relationship with each other. A timeline would also help for future reference.
"I am hoping to find a list" Won't happen. Also one book will not be enough to introduce you to the complexities of Indian coinage. Falus (money in Arab فلوس )in general are copper coins. The right part of the Arab word is something to remember, as it usually is easy to recognize on a lot of coins. Rati is not strictly a coin but a weigth standard, like "falus of 32 rati". Jitals i generally describe as "the small change used in Northern India to Afghanistan, deriving from the bull and horseman coinage of the Shahi of Kabul. Mostly around 3.4 grams and in low purity silver, to copper in later times" If you are interested in Sultanate coinage (pre-Mughal) look out for a used copy of "Goron & Goenka" (quite hard to get). For an overview of the different Jitals search for "Tye, Jitals" on Academia.edu. Although older, "Mitchiner, Non Islamic States" also is still very usefull.
As THCoins mentions, Indian coins are a very complicated series and hence there are several books that are needed to properly identify and attribute coins. Furthermore, some of the attributions are changing and new coins are also found which makes it even more difficult. In order for me to properly attribute a single coin, I refer to multiple books, including G&G, Tye's Jitals, BMC Catalogues, and a few others. For the casual collector, I recommend, at least getting the free BMC Catalogues to start off...
@THCoins I really do appreciate your help and advice. (I have to assimilate it all, now.) Please look out for a "Bull and Horseman" post (coming up).
