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Falus Lion and Peacock
| Issuer | Herat, City of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1600-1900 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse bears a multi-line Arabic script inscription arranged in a cartouche-like format, likely recording the mint name Herat and a regnal or hijri date. The legends are executed in a cursive Naskh hand, with decorative floral or vegetal elements filling the remaining field. A dotted border surrounds the design. The strike is characteristic of hand-hammered Afghan falus coinage, resulting in some weakness and irregularity across the flan. |
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| Mint | Herat |
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| Additional information |
Herat operated as a semi-autonomous minting center through much of the Safavid and later Durrani and Barakzai periods, and its copper falus coinage circulated almost entirely at the local level — ignored by imperial monetary accounting yet essential to daily bazaar transactions. The lion and peacock pairing as a device type is unusual enough within the broader Afghan-Persian copper series that Zeno cataloguers have noted multiple die variants, suggesting sustained if irregular production across generations rather than a single mint episode.