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1 Legal Dirham - Muhammad Tughluq
| Issuer | Delhi Sultanate |
|---|---|
| Year | 1325-1351 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Dirham (1/4) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| 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 |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Arabic |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Reverse die bearing a multi-line Arabic inscription in bold Naskh-influenced script, occupying the full field of the irregular flan. The legend, distributed across three registers, records additional royal titles and the mint or regnal formula customary on Tughluq coinage. The lettering is deeply incuse-struck with characteristic thick strokes, and the overall presentation is utilitarian yet legible, typical of the Delhi Sultanate's token currency issues under Muhammad bin Tughluq. |
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| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
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| Additional information |
Muhammad bin Tughluq's brass dirham issues belong to one of the most audacious — and catastrophically failed — monetary experiments in medieval history. Facing a chronic silver shortage and needing to fund an impossibly ambitious imperial program, the sultan attempted to introduce token coinage in base metal that would circulate at the value of silver. The public response was immediate counterfeiting on a massive scale; contemporary chronicler Ibn Battuta, who served at the Delhi court, described the courtyards of houses filling with forged coins as merchants refused the new currency wholesale.
The experiment was abandoned and the brass issues were officially redeemable at the treasury for silver — a reversal that nearly bankrupted the sultanate.