I picked up this amongst a bunch of others. I assume Indian subcontinent but I have been through 19th century Krause for India and also Afghanistan without a hit. Can someone point me in the right direction? Measures about 15mm across at the widest and weighs about 3.5g. Copper.
That helps enormously - thanks! In terms of markings it is a close match to this one on Numista: https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces54365.html however mine is definitely copper, not billon, and is slightly smaller but thicker (2.36mm). Does this still fit or does anyone know of another denomination that meets these differences?
The logo in the circle is the name "Balban" in Arab. Around: “Srih SuLaTa GaYaSuDi”. But you will need several specimen to be able to read this. Rev:“Al-Sultan al-a / ‘zam Ghiyath ud-dun / iya wa ud-din”. Denomination is 2-Gani. These range from good silver to very coppery. Diameter and thickness may vary, weight was better regulated.
PaddyB has an interesting ancient coin, possibly Indian, wanting identification. Whilst I may be barking up the wrong tree, the writing could be Arabic. In the 12th Century several Islamic states were established in the Indian subcontinent. Later on, from ca 1526 until 1761 the Mughal Empire took hold in most of Northern India. I cannot guarantee that all this applies to PaddyB's coin, but - - - who knows ? That coin could be from around 1556 A.D.
Thanks for that @Bert Gedin . The answer is actually in the Numista link above - it is from the Sultanate of Delhi and dates between 1266 and 1287AD when Ghiyath al-Din Balban was Sultan. It is a 2 Ghani coin made officially of Billon but often very coppery. Sadly checking this against Ebay it is not mega-rare or valuable!
