Nasir al-Din Shah of the Qajar tribe, born in Tabriz, Persia, became Shah of Persia at the age of 17 and ruled for almost 48 years, till his assassination in 1896. Although he tried to modernize the country and strengthen the armed forces, he was often unable to exercise control over most of the country because of strong regional warlords and tribal chiefs, who had more men at arms than the Shah. Furthermore, many of his reforms which granted concessions and financial benefits to Western powers and companies, were not popular amongst the locals. His dictatorial ways and propensity to gain personal financial benefit from government contracts further alienated him from his subjects. I realise it is not an ancient but the members here offer much more help and advice than on the other forums The coin itself: Auctioneer's description: QAJAR: Nasir al-Din Shah, 1848-1896, AV toman (3.43g), Rasht, AH1272, A-2925, KM-861, portrait obverse, EF, RRR, ex Dabestani Collection. The portrait design was used on the gold Toman during AH1272-1273 and the silver qiran and half qiran. Whereas the silver issues are fairly common, the gold Toman is considered 'extremely rare' with very few known examples. Moreover, almost all known examples of this type were struck at Tehran, the capital, with just a few reported for Astarabad and Rasht, which could make it even more unique. It would appear that this style of Toman was a presentation issue but I would like to hear your views on that theory and see your Qajar coins.