1/4 Mithqal - Tahmasb I Safavi Isfahan mint

Tahmasb I ruled for over fifty years — the longest reign in Safavid history — yet gold fractions from his Isfahan mint survive in surprisingly low numbers relative to the reign's length. This is partly explained by the chronic fiscal strain of near-continuous warfare: the Ottoman-Safavid conflicts between 1532 and 1555, culminating in the Peace of Amasya, repeatedly disrupted bullion supplies reaching the royal mints. Small-denomination gold was also subject to heavy re-melting whenever military payments demanded rapid recoinage.

The Peace of Amasya itself, signed in 1555, formally partitioned the Caucasus and Mesopotamia and gave Tahmasb enough breathing room to stabilize Isfahan's mint output in his later decades.