Falus Lion and Sword

Obverse description	A lion passant to the left occupies the central field, rendered in a bold, stylized manner characteristic of Afghan provincial copper coinage. The animal is depicted in full stride with its tail raised, exhibiting the archaic artistic conventions typical of Herati falus issues. Spots of verdigris patina are visible across the irregular flan. The field surrounding the lion is largely plain, with the Arabic mint legend distributed around the design.
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Obverse lettering	ضرب هرات فلوس (Translation: zarb Herat falus)
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Additional information	Herat in the 12th century sat at the intersection of Ghaznavid collapse and Ghurid expansion — a city that changed hands violently and repeatedly, with local copper coinage often filling the vacuum left when imperial minting authority dissolved or became logistically unreachable. Falus of this type functioned in the bazaar economy when silver dirhams were scarce or hoarded, and their attribution is notoriously difficult; Zeno references for these pieces frequently accumulate multiple catalog numbers as specimens surface with subtle die differences that resist clean classification.