Muhammad bin Tughluq's monetary experiments are among the most documented economic disasters of medieval India. His decision in the 1320s–30s to introduce token coinage — brass and copper standing in for silver — collapsed when the sultanate failed to control counterfeiting, which subjects undertook so prolifically that the treasury was overwhelmed with tokens redeemed for gold and silver. The billon issues occupy a different register from that particular catastrophe, but they belong to a reign defined by chronic fiscal improvisation.
The GG#D377 type falls within a coinage system reorganized multiple times under Muhammad's direct orders.
Muhammad bin Tughluq's monetary experiments are among the most documented economic disasters of medieval India. His decision in the 1320s–30s to introduce token coinage — brass and copper standing in for silver — collapsed when the sultanate failed to control counterfeiting, which subjects undertook so prolifically that the treasury was overwhelmed with tokens redeemed for gold and silver. The billon issues occupy a different register from that particular catastrophe, but they belong to a reign defined by chronic fiscal improvisation.
The GG#D377 type falls within a coinage system reorganized multiple times under Muhammad's direct orders.