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 Tanka - Muhammad bin Tughluq
| Issuer | Delhi Sultanate |
|---|---|
| Year | 1327-1337 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Billon |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | ضرب في زمان العبد الراجي رحمة الله محمد بن |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Plain |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Muhammad bin Tughluq's decision to introduce a token currency in billon — and earlier in copper — during the late 1320s was one of the most ambitious and catastrophic monetary experiments in medieval Indian history. The sultan ordered that these coins be accepted at the value of silver, without the metallic backing to support the parity. Merchants and subject populations quickly began counterfeiting on a massive scale, and the government was eventually forced to redeem the debased tokens for silver from the treasury, a reversal that reportedly drained the royal reserves.
Ibn Battuta, who visited the Delhi Sultanate during this period, described the chaos firsthand.