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 - Ismail I Safavi Badakhshan, First Standard
| Issuer | Safavid Dynasty |
|---|---|
| Year | 1512 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Shahi (1501-1798) |
| 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) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Entirely epigraphic design executed in bold thuluth script, arranged across multiple horizontal registers within a plain circular border. The field bears the extended royal titulature of Shah Ismail I al-Safavi, reading: 'The Just Sultan, The Perfect, The Guide, The Ruler, Abu al-Muzaffar Bahadur Khan Shah Ismail al-Safavi, may God preserve his kingdom and his sultanate.' The mint name Badakhshan and the regnal year 9 appear in the lower register. The lettering is deeply struck in high relief, typical of early Safavid hammered coinage, with the irregular flan showing characteristic edge irregularities. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Epigraphic design featuring the Shi'a Kalima (declaration of faith) inscribed within a central circle in thuluth script, surrounded by a circular marginal legend listing the names of the Twelve Imams of Twelver Shi'a Islam. The central field reads the shahada followed by the acknowledgement of Ali as the Friend of God, while the surrounding band enumerates all twelve Imams by name. This distinctive Shi'a religious formula is a hallmark of early Safavid coinage, introduced by Shah Ismail I to proclaim Twelver Shi'ism as the state religion. The script is deeply engraved in high relief on an irregularly shaped hammered flan. |
| 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 |
Ismail I consolidated Safavid rule over Badakhshan — the mountainous region straddling modern Tajikistan and Afghanistan — as part of his broader campaign to extend Twelver Shia authority across the eastern Iranian world. This coin predates the catastrophic Ottoman defeat of the Safavids at Chaldiran in 1514, a battle that exposed the vulnerability of Ismail's cavalry against Ottoman artillery and permanently reoriented Safavid military and political strategy. The "First Standard" designation reflects a distinct early emission type before later metrology reforms adjusted the shahi's weight and fineness.