1/2 Mithqal - Tahmasp I Safavi Tabriz, First Gold Standard

Tahmasp I inherited the Safavid throne at ten years old following his father Ismail I's death, and the early coinage of his reign reflects the factional instability that plagued the court — Qizilbash tribal commanders effectively controlled state decisions for the first decade. This piece belongs to the Tabriz mint output from that transitional moment, before the Ottomans sacked the city in 1534 and forced the capital's eventual relocation to Qazvin.

The mithqal weight standard under the early Safavids was inherited from Timurid practice, though Tahmasp's administration worked to regularize it. Album 2591 represents one of the cleaner documentary fixed points for this denomination in the series.