1/4 Mithqal - Tahmasb Safavi Kirman mint

Tahmasp I spent much of his reign on campaign or negotiating with the Ottomans under the shadow of Suleiman's repeated invasions, which pushed Safavid minting activity toward eastern and southern provincial centers like Kirman. The quarter mithqal denomination was a practical fractional issue, not a prestige piece — it moved in trade, not in ceremony.

Kirman's mint was active in connecting Persian Gulf commerce to the interior, and gold fractions from this facility in the mid-sixteenth century survive in considerably smaller numbers than their Tabriz or Qazvin counterparts.