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1 Paisa - Sher Shah Suri
| Issuer | Sur Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 1538-1545 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Paisa |
| 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 |
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| Technique | Log in to see details |
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| 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 | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse description | Reverse displays a multi-line Arabic inscription filling the entire field in a hammered, flat-relief style consistent with Sur dynasty copper coinage. The legend is distributed across three or four horizontal registers, with the script exhibiting the bold, angular characteristics of mid-sixteenth century Indo-Afghan epigraphy. A faint horizontal division line separates the upper and lower inscription panels. The flan is slightly irregular in shape with uneven edges, reflecting the hand-struck production technique. Patination is consistent with the obverse, with areas of dark brown copper oxide. |
| Reverse script | Arabic |
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| Edge | Log in to see details |
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| Additional information |
Sher Shah Suri's monetary reform of the 1540s is one of the most consequential administrative acts in subcontinental history — he standardized the tri-metal currency system that the Mughals would later inherit and refine. The copper dam (of which this paisa is a fractional unit) was fixed at a defined ratio to the silver rupiya he introduced, creating the first coherent bimetallic exchange structure across northern India in centuries.
Sher Shah ruled for only five years before dying in a gunpowder explosion at the siege of Kalinjar in 1545, leaving a currency architecture far more durable than his dynasty.