1/2 Shahi - Isma`il I Safavi Amid, First Standard

Isma'il I founded the Safavid state in 1501 after capturing Tabriz, immediately imposing Twelver Shi'ism as the official doctrine — a political rupture that permanently fractured the Islamic world along sectarian lines and put Safavid coinage in direct ideological opposition to Ottoman issues. The "First Standard" designation reflects the early coinage reform he imposed before later weight adjustments stabilized the shahi system. Amid refers to the mint at Diyarbakır, a city that changed hands repeatedly between Safavid and Ottoman forces throughout the sixteenth century.

Album 2577 is a broad type; individual specimens from Amid are scarcer than those from Tabriz or other core mints.