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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Tiesenhausen, post: 845658, member: 24319&quot;]I&#039;ve learned something new here. When I saw the two coins, they were in an expensive leather briefcase lined with foam covered with velvet, with two depressions the right size to hold the coins. The leather book was in the case above the coins (no, not touching them or rubbing against them!). In fact, even the leather case may have been custom made for the book and the two coins--I don&#039;t quite remember now.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I did not then know where the book came from. It was my impression that it was a single copy, or one of a very few copies. It may well have been made for Spink. At that time, by the way, Spink had an office or representation in Zurich. A friend who consulted for Spink on a regular basis was the intermediary who introduced me to the Swiss lawyer who took us to the bank and down to the safe deposit area, retrieved the coins and allowed us to examine them (myself, the lawyer, and the Spink intermediary). I did not examine them carefully or try to decipher the inscriptions, since all that had been done. I was and still am curious to know how such objects were made--I would guess with some sort of simple drop press that raised the upper stamp and dropped it on the disks of gold. In fact, the overall production was not perfect. There was some double stamping and areas not fully struck up. One would expect the Mogul emperor, doubtless the richest and maybe the most powerful man in the world at that time, to insist on something better, but these were &quot;mass&quot; produced objects, not only for single gifts to princes and ambassadors. They were storage ingots as well, made in the dozens I suppose if not in the hundreds or thousands. Someone could make a discreet hole in a bag of 1000 gold mohurs and carry off a few coins, but no one would run off with one of these. </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I&#039;m almost positive, however, that Spink never went public with these coins. They may have shown them privately to potential buyers, like the shaykh who had talked to me about them long before I saw them, but there was no auction.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Michael L. Bates, Ph.D.</p><p>Curator Emeritus of Islamic Coins</p><p>The American Numismatic Society[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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