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Silver 1/4 Tanka - Timurid - Abu Sa'id - Astarabad Mint
| Issuer | Timurid Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 1451-1469 |
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| Currency | Tanka (1370-1507) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Central field divided into three horizontal registers of Arabic inscription within a lobed cartouche. The uppermost line bears the ruler's honorific title 'Al-Sultan al-A'zam' (The Most Supreme Sultan), the middle line gives the ruler's name 'Abu Sa'id', and the lower line records the mint name 'Astarabad'. The flan is irregular and slightly oval, consistent with hand-hammered Timurid quarter-tanka coinage struck at the Astarabad mint during AH 855-873. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Abu Sa'id ruled the Timurid sultanate after seizing power in 1451 with Uzbek military backing, displacing rival claimants in a succession struggle that had fragmented the dynasty for years. Astarabad, positioned on the southeastern Caspian littoral, functioned as both a regional administrative center and a mint of intermittent activity — its output tends to be scarcer than the major Khurasani mints at Herat or Samarkand.
The quarter tanka denomination served small-transaction commerce across a monetized agrarian economy, and survivors in collectible condition are proportionally rare given how heavily such fractions circulated.