2 Tumân - Nāṣer al-Dīn Qājār Royal Visit

Struck to commemorate Nāṣer al-Dīn Shāh's third European tour in 1889–1890, this piece belongs to a tradition of Iranian royal visit coinages issued as diplomatic gifts and presentation pieces rather than circulating currency. The Shah's European travels generated enormous political anxiety at home — critics, including the cleric Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, publicly condemned the trips as vehicles for granting ruinous commercial concessions to foreign powers.

That anxiety proved warranted. Within a year of this coin's striking, Nāṣer al-Dīn granted the catastrophic Tobacco Régie concession to a British company, triggering a nationwide boycott and the first mass political movement in Iranian history.