Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1/2 Tanka - Muhammad bin Tughluq
| Issuer | Delhi Sultanate |
|---|---|
| Year | 1330 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 7.31 g |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Arabic |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Hammered copper flan with an Arabic inscription in Naskh script distributed across the field in multiple lines, recording the Hijri regnal date. The legend reads 'sultan muhammad' with the AH date 730 (corresponding to 1330 CE) inscribed in the lower portion of the field. The script is boldly rendered with deeply incised strokes, enclosed within a faint circular border. The surface exhibits a green and brown patina typical of buried Delhi Sultanate copper coinage. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Muhammad bin Tughluq's copper token currency of the 1320s–1330s was one of the most ambitious and disastrous monetary experiments in medieval Indian history. Facing a treasury strained by failed military campaigns — including a catastrophic invasion of Khurasan — the sultan ordered that copper tokens circulate at the face value of silver tankas. He failed to restrict private minting, and counterfeit tokens flooded the market almost immediately. Ibn Battuta, who was present in Delhi, recorded that houses of Hindu merchants became virtual mints. The scheme collapsed within a few years, and Tughluq was forced to redeem the tokens for silver at enormous cost to the crown.