Fath Ali Shah's reign produced an unusually fragmented coinage, with provincial mints operating under varying degrees of central oversight. The Mashhad mint, located in Khorasan, sat close enough to the Afghan and Central Asian frontiers that its output was shaped as much by regional trade demands as by Qajar fiscal policy. Mashhad pieces from this period frequently show idiosyncratic die cutting — local engravers working with limited coordination from Tehran.
Khorasan had only been firmly reintegrated under Qajar authority a generation earlier, following Abbas Mirza's campaigns in the northeast.
Fath Ali Shah's reign produced an unusually fragmented coinage, with provincial mints operating under varying degrees of central oversight. The Mashhad mint, located in Khorasan, sat close enough to the Afghan and Central Asian frontiers that its output was shaped as much by regional trade demands as by Qajar fiscal policy. Mashhad pieces from this period frequently show idiosyncratic die cutting — local engravers working with limited coordination from Tehran.
Khorasan had only been firmly reintegrated under Qajar authority a generation earlier, following Abbas Mirza's campaigns in the northeast.