Falus - Anonymous Rasht

Rasht, the principal city of Gilan province on the Caspian littoral, issued anonymous copper falus during the mid-eighteenth century under conditions of considerable political fragmentation following the collapse of Safavid central authority. Album 3257 covers a loosely defined group of provincial copper issues that circulated largely outside the reach of any coherent imperial monetary system — local commerce demanded small change that Tehran or Isfahan simply wasn't supplying.

The anonymity here is deliberate, not accidental. Provincial mints avoiding named authority on copper coinage was a hedge against rapidly shifting political allegiances in Gilan, a region that changed hands repeatedly between Safavid remnants, Afghan interlopers, and eventually Nadir Shah's consolidating campaigns.