1 Rial - Fat'h Ali Qajar Zanjan mint

Fat'h Ali Shah's provincial mint at Zanjan was among the less prolific of the Qajar minting network, making output from this facility considerably scarcer than comparable pieces from Tehran or Tabriz. The Qajar monetary system of this period was decentralized to a degree unusual even by contemporary standards — local governors exercised meaningful control over mint operations, which accounts for the striking irregularities and die inconsistencies that characterize provincial issues from this reign.

Fat'h Ali ruled from 1797 to 1834, a reign marked by two disastrous wars with Russia that drained the treasury and disrupted silver supplies to outlying mints. Zanjan issues from the middle period of his reign are the least documented in surviving mint records.