1 Mithqal - Muhammad Khodabanda Safavi type B, Ardabil mint

Muhammad Khodabanda (Shah Mohammad I) came to power in 1578 largely because the Safavid court factions believed his near-blindness made him controllable. They were correct. His decade-long reign was consumed by regent power struggles, a damaging war with the Ottomans that cost the dynasty significant northwestern territory, and repeated Uzbek incursions from the east — pressures that would eventually force his own son Abbas to depose him in 1587.

Ardabil held particular dynastic significance as the ancestral seat of the Safaviyya order, which gives mint output from that city a certain ceremonial weight beyond mere circulation coinage. The Type B designation distinguishes this from the earlier mithqal format issued under his name, reflecting a die revision rather than a change in issuing authority.