The characters are not actual Arabic, or any language. This is a novelty interpretation of an Indian coin.
Certainly fooled me! Is there a language expert out there that can make sense of what this coin/token was intended for?
It was intended for novelty purposes. Possibly as ornamentation, such as a Kuchi coin, as you might see on a belly dancer's belt and shawl. The characters are a hodgepodge that makes no sense. The crescent and wavy equal sign are similar to ancient Egyptian characters that you would never see on any real Arabic or Indian coin. The others are vaguely Arabesque fantasy characters. The triple dot formations are found on Indian coins, but not like this. It definitely a good reference example for someone who is just getting into collecting these types of coins.
Thanks Numismat! Your description makes a lot of sense. I like the idea that it may come from a belly dancer's belt that my wife's grand dad would have met back in England (or India) in the early 1900's... Are there actually collectors of these types of coins? When do you suppose this coin was made? Any idea of its possible value???
For age on items like this I look at the rims. In that area of the world they did not machine strike until 1800 at the earliest, and in places much later. The raised rim at the edge is a tipoff this was machine struck, so I would say 200 years or less is the age. No easy way of telling beyond that, unless someone here is very familiar with these and recognizes the pattern. I do not think that this, since its not a coin, would have very much value. Chris
I agree with medoraman. the style is based on coins going back to the 1600's, but the even rim and neat hole leads me to believe it is from the late 1800's or early 1900's. They would have been cast prior to that. And yes, value would be just a couple of dollars as a curiosity.
