Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1 Shahi - Isma`il I Safavi Saveh, First Standard
| Issuer | Safavid Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| 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 |
| Reference(s) | Album Islamic#2576 cat#3023 |
| Obverse description | Central field bears the Shi'a profession of faith in angular, square Kufic script arranged in a bold geometric grid pattern: 'There is no god but God, Muhammad is the Messenger of God, Ali is the Friend of God.' The inscription is organized in a rectilinear interlocking composition characteristic of early Safavid hammered coinage. A marginal legend encircling the central square panel contains the names of the Twelve Imams in cursive Arabic script. The flan is irregular and shows typical die-struck relief of the period. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | لا إله إلا الله محمد رسول الله علي ولي الله [Marginal legend: Names of the Twelve Imams] |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Isma'il I founded the Safavid dynasty in 1501 and immediately imposed Twelver Shi'a Islam as the state religion — a politically violent rupture with the Sunni Ottoman and Uzbek neighbors who would spend the next century trying to roll it back. The coinage was a direct instrument of that declaration. The shahi denomination itself was named after Shah Isma'il, a deliberate break from earlier Timurid and Aq Qoyunlu monetary traditions he was displacing.
Saveh, in the central Iranian plateau, was among the earlier mints active under his first coinage standard. Album 2576 distinguishes this first standard from later Isma'ili issues by its weight and formula — the type was reformed as the dynasty consolidated.