Naser al-Din Shah's long reign saw repeated monetary reforms as the Qajar treasury struggled under the weight of concessions sold to Russian and British interests. The copper shahi occupied the lowest rung of a bimetallic system that was chronically disrupted by silver shortages and debasement pressure from above. These circulated hard in the bazaar economy and survivors in any decent state of preservation are genuinely scarce.
Naser al-Din Shah's long reign saw repeated monetary reforms as the Qajar treasury struggled under the weight of concessions sold to Russian and British interests. The copper shahi occupied the lowest rung of a bimetallic system that was chronically disrupted by silver shortages and debasement pressure from above. These circulated hard in the bazaar economy and survivors in any decent state of preservation are genuinely scarce.