What to do at home? Mughal Islamic coins from India!

Discussion in 'World Coins' started by willieboyd2, Apr 3, 2020.

  1. willieboyd2

    willieboyd2 First Class Poster

    I bought several Mughal India coins recently and spent some time attempting to read the Arabic text on them with the help of Richard Plant's book Arabic Coins and How to Read Them.

    The Mughal Empire was a Sunni Islamic kingdom which lasted from AD 1526 to 1857.
    Their territory included most of India.
    Its capitol was Agra and briefly Fatehpur Sikri.
    Agra was also known as Akbarabad and was the location of a mint.

    The Muslim Kalima or statement of faith sometimes appears on Mughal coins in part or whole.
    It is "There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah".

    The Rightly-Guided Caliphs of Sunni Islam are Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali.
    Their names sometimes appear on Mughal coins.

    The KM number is from Krause Catalog of World Coins.

    Jahangir AH 1014-1037 AD 1605-1627

    [​IMG]
    Mughal Rupee Jahangir Rupee Jalnapur 1014-1017
    Silver, 19 mm, 11:43 gm, KM 141.6
    Mint: Jalnapur

    Obverse: Three horizontal lines of text
    Line 1: Ghazi (Fighter for Islam)
    Line 2: Jahangir Badshah (Conqueror of the World, Emperor)
    Line 3: Nur-ud-din (Light of religion)

    Reverse: Two horizontal lines of text
    Line 1: "There is no god but Allah"
    Line 2: "Muhammad is his messenger" and mint name lower left

    Shah Jahan AH 1037-1068 AD 1628-1658

    [​IMG]
    Mughal Rupee Shah Jahan Agra AH 1038
    Silver, 22 mm, 10:47 gm, KM 222.1
    Mint: Agra

    Obverse: Four horizontal lines of text
    Line 1: Badshah Ghazi (Emperor and fighter for Islam)
    Line 2: Muhammad Shah Jahan (King of the World)
    Line 3: Shahab ud-Din (Star of the Faith)
    Line 4: Sahib-i-Qiran-i-Sani Ahad
    (Second Lord of the Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, First year of reign)

    Reverse: Three horizontal lines of text
    Line 1: "There is no god but Allah"
    Line 2: "Muhammad is his messenger"
    Line 3: Sanat Dar-i-Khilafa Agra (Struck at seat of capital Agra)

    The year "1038" is on the left side. AH 1038 is around AD 1628

    [​IMG]
    Mughal Rupee Shah Jahan Akbarabad AH 1039
    Silver, 22 mm, 11:31 gm, KM 227.2
    Mint: Akbarabad

    Obverse: Four horizontal lines of text
    Line 1: BadShah Ghazi (Emperor and and fighter for Islam)
    Line 2: Al-din Muhammad Shah Jahan (Of the religion, King of the World)
    Line 3: Sahib Qiran Sani (Second Lord of the Conjunction of two Planets Jupiter and Saturn)
    Line 4: Zarb Akbarabad (Struck at Akbarabad)

    Reverse: Circle with two lines inside it and four lines around it
    Circle upper: "There is no god but Allah"
    Circle lower: "Muhammad is his messenger"
    Circle top: Caliph Abu Bakr
    Circle right: Caliph Umar
    Circle bottom: Caliph Uthman
    Circle left: Caliph Ali

    The year "1039" is on the lower right side of the circle. AH 1039 is around AD 1629

    [​IMG]
    Mughal Rupee Shah Jahan Patna AH 1051
    Silver, 21 mm, 11.38 gm, KM 235.20
    Mint: Patna

    Obverse: Square with two lines inside it and four lines around it
    Square upper: Badshah Ghazi (Emperor and fighter for Islam)
    Square lower: Shah Jahan (King of the World)
    Square top: Shahab-ud-Din (Star of the Faith)
    Square right: Muhammad Sahib (Lord Muhammad)
    Square bottom: Qiran-e-Sani (Second Lord of the Conjunction of two Planets Jupiter and Saturn)
    Square left: Zarb Patna (Struck at Patna mint, regnal year 15)

    Reverse: Square with two lines inside it and four lines around it
    Square upper: "There is no god but Allah"
    Square lower: "Muhammad is his messenger"
    Square top: Caliph Abu Bakr
    Square right: Caliph Umar
    Square bottom: Caliph Uthman
    Square left: Caliph Ali

    The coin has no year visible.
    The obverse has the regnal year "15" below the long letter within the square.
    It equates to AH 1037+15-1 or 1051 which is around AD 1641.

    Shah Jahan had this building built for his wife:

    [​IMG]
    Taj Mahal, Agra

    Aurangzeb AH 1069-1119 AD 1659-1707

    Aurangzeb was a devout Muslim and had the religious messages taken off coins as he did not want them to be handled by an infidel.
    No "In God We Trust" for him.
    He had 47 different mints putting out coinage.

    [​IMG]
    Mughal Rupee Aurangzeb Akbarabad AH 1081
    Silver, 22 mm, 11.36 gm, KM 298.1
    Mint: Akbarabad

    Obverse: Square with two lines inside it and four lines around it
    Square upper: Badshah Ghazi (Emperor and fighter for Islam)
    Square lower: Shah Alamgir (King Conqueror of the World)
    Square left: Abul Muzaffar (Father of victory)
    Square top: Muhy-ud-Din Muhammad (Preserver religion of Muhammad)
    Square right: Aurangzeb (Ornament of the Throne)
    Square bottom: Bahadur Sanat 1081 (Brave in the year struck 1081)

    Reverse: Square with two lines inside it and four lines around it
    Square upper: Akbarabad (Mint)
    Square lower: Zarb (Struck at)
    Square left: Julus (reign)
    Square top: Maimanat (prosperity)
    Square right: Manus (associated)
    Square bottom: Sanat 14 (Year 14 of his reign associated with prosperity)

    The year "1081" is on the lower left. AH 1081 is around AD 1671

    [​IMG]
    Mughal Rupee Aurangzeb Rupee Akbarabad AH 1117
    Silver, 22 mm, 11:38 gm, KM 300.6
    Mint: Akbarabad

    Obverse: Three horizontal lines of text
    Line 1: Shah Aurangzeb Alamgir (King, Ornament of the Throne, Conqueror of the World)
    Line 2: Munir Bedr Cho Zad (Like shining full moon)
    Line 3: Sikkah Dar Jahan (Coin struck in the world)

    Reverse: Three horizontal lines of text
    Line 1: Manus (associated)
    Line 2: Maimanat (prosperity)
    Line 3: Zarb Akbarabad Sanat Julus 49
    (Struck Akbarabad in year 49 of his reign associated with tranquil prosperity)

    The coin has no year visible.
    The reverse has the regnal year "49" is in the lower left.
    It equates to AH 1069+49-1 or 1117 which is around AD 1705.

    Aurangzeb had this building built for his wife:

    [​IMG]

    :)
     
  2. Avatar

    Guest User Guest



    to hide this ad.
  3. Inspector43

    Inspector43 Celebrating 75 Years Active Collecting Supporter

    What to do at home? Practice for your retirement.
     
  4. panzerman

    panzerman Well-Known Member

    Here is my
    AV Mohur 1628 Surat Mint
    Shah Jahan I
    Mughal Empire

    AV Mohur 1682 Aurangabad Mint
    Aurangzeb
    Mughal Empire a93d55d4684446858a357b9b92812fee.jpg 551df4359b0c152cad6ad87590340e6b.jpg
     
  5. willieboyd2

    willieboyd2 First Class Poster

    That second mohur is beautiful.

    As an exercise I was able to read the coin including the mint.

    :)
     
  6. panzerman

    panzerman Well-Known Member

    I wish that I could read them:)
     
  7. 1934 Wreath Crown

    1934 Wreath Crown Well-Known Member

    @willieboyd2...…..wow that must have taken a lot of time and effort as a lot of the calligraphy doesn't follow the normal written script and much of it is off the coins. The gold mohurs are different because they are sharper uncircularised coins and the Shah Jahan mohur has much of the script on the coin itself.

    Having said that, in the Persian script the letter Z is similar to the letter R except it has a dot on top. On the first line the dot is missing because it is struck off flan. So normally if one did not know the language, one would read it as:

    Badshah Ghari instead of Badshah Ghazi.

    I applaud your patience, perseverance and effort.....well done,

    Fatehpur Sikri was Akbar's folly and the capital soon shifted back to Agra. Later Delhi became the capital and the Mughal Empire was governed from the Red Fort in Delhi.
     
    Inspector43 likes this.
  8. Croatian Coin Collector

    Croatian Coin Collector Supporter! Supporter

    I have finally managed to buy a Mughal Mohur (of Aurangzeb from the early 18th century):

    dk6DH3kBeP4ANqC978pX7gTKB5mi2H.jpg

    :happy:
     
  9. panzerman

    panzerman Well-Known Member

    Congratulations! Here is another impossible coin/ last one sold for big money.
    AV Mohur
    Abkar
    Indian museum INDIAN-MUSEUM.jpg
     
  10. Croatian Coin Collector

    Croatian Coin Collector Supporter! Supporter

    Thank you:), hopefully I will manage to next find a gold stater of Alexander the Great in good condition somewhere.
     
    panzerman likes this.
  11. panzerman

    panzerman Well-Known Member

    That will not be hard to find/ hundreds appear in auctions in MS. Prices are way too high considering how many are on market.
     
  12. Croatian Coin Collector

    Croatian Coin Collector Supporter! Supporter

    Hopefully you are right, every one I have come across so far has had some sort of serious defect (holes on the cheek, stains of some sort, etc.) that disqualified them from being bought by me.

    What prices did you see them go for?
     
    panzerman likes this.
  13. panzerman

    panzerman Well-Known Member

    all were over 5K upto 30K depending on mint city.
     
  14. Croatian Coin Collector

    Croatian Coin Collector Supporter! Supporter

    Well, the maximum daily spending limit on my credit card that my bank allows is 7000 EUR:D, so hopefully I will manage to find it for under that amount.
     
    panzerman likes this.
  15. willieboyd2

    willieboyd2 First Class Poster

    Last edited: Feb 14, 2024
  16. Croatian Coin Collector

    Croatian Coin Collector Supporter! Supporter

    Thanks, but I don't have it, because I refused delivery on account of Baldwin's being very unprofessional in regards to another coin I was interested in buying, they had it for sale even though it was already sold, and then after I had placed my order, it took them over 5 and a half hours to cancel the order and inform me that they had already sold it to somebody else! Luckily later that day I was able to find and buy the coin I was interested in from a seller in the Netherlands, and I think that there is a good chance that I will manage to buy a Mughal Gold Mohur of Aurangzeb in better condition than the one pictured above in the near future. :)
     
    panzerman likes this.
  17. Croatian Coin Collector

    Croatian Coin Collector Supporter! Supporter

    Today I bought this Mughal Gold Mohur of Aurangzeb (minted in Kabul in 1673):

    PhotoRoom-20220706_031845_43-1[1551].jpg

    :cool:
     
    Last edited: Mar 18, 2024
    Heavymetal and panzerman like this.
  18. panzerman

    panzerman Well-Known Member

    thats a hard mint to get, good buy.
     
  19. Croatian Coin Collector

    Croatian Coin Collector Supporter! Supporter

    I could tell from the price. :D

    Thank you. :)
     
    panzerman likes this.
  20. Croatian Coin Collector

    Croatian Coin Collector Supporter! Supporter

    Depending on how things go at an auction, I might have another Mughal Gold Mohur to post on this thread in about a week. :)
     
    panzerman likes this.
  21. Croatian Coin Collector

    Croatian Coin Collector Supporter! Supporter

    I bought this Mughal Gold Mohur of Shah Jahan (minted in Kabul):

    PhotoRoom-20240314_063823_2-[1549][2305843009215567545].jpg
     
    panzerman likes this.
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page