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1/2 Toman - Mozaffar ad-Din Shah
| Issuer | Iran |
|---|---|
| Year | 1313-1324 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Orientation | Medal alignment ↑↑ |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Arabic |
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| Reverse description | Central field bears a three-line Shia invocatory legend in elegant nastaliq script reading 'Ya Sahib al-Zaman, alayhi al-salam' (O Lord of the Age, peace be upon him), a devotional appeal to the Twelfth Imam of Twelver Shia Islam. The inscription is enclosed within a beaded inner circle and framed by a symmetrical wreath of olive and oak branches tied at the base with a ribbon, mirroring the design on the obverse. The high-relief calligraphy fills the central field with pronounced depth, characteristic of late Qajar gold coinage struck at the Tehran mint. |
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| Additional information |
Mozaffar ad-Din Shah's reign saw Iran's finances perpetually stretched by his appetite for European travel — three separate grand tours to the continent, each financed by foreign loans that mortgaged the country's customs revenues to Russian and British creditors. The Constitutional Revolution of 1906, which he signed into law months before his death, was in no small part a reaction to the financial humiliation those debts represented.
The half-toman gold pieces of this reign circulated alongside a debased silver coinage that the public increasingly distrusted, giving the gold fractional denominations more practical relevance than their weight alone would suggest. KM#976 spans a twelve-year window that ends with his death in January 1907.