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Tanka - Sultan Ahmad - post-reform Samarqand mint
| Issuer | Timurid Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 1491-1494 |
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| Composition | Silver |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse presents a multi-line Arabic legend arranged within a decorative cartouche surmounted by an arch or ogival frame, a design feature typical of post-reform Timurid tankas struck at Samarqand. The central square or rectangular panel contains the mint name and regnal information in Naskh script, with additional marginal inscriptions encircling the cartouche. A border of dots or pellets is visible along the inner rim. The overall composition follows the standard post-reform Timurid die layout, with text filling all available field space. Striking is characteristic of hand-hammered production, with some areas of softness at the periphery. |
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| Mintage | ND (1491-1494) |
| Additional information |
Ahmad ibn Abu Sa'id ruled as one of several competing Timurid princes through the fractured final decades of the dynasty, his authority in Transoxiana perpetually contested by brothers and cousins. The post-reform designation here refers to the metrological standardization pushed through in the 1480s, which brought tanka weights into closer alignment across Timurid mints — a bureaucratic effort at coherence during a political period that had almost none.
Samarqand remained the symbolic heart of Timurid legitimacy long after real power had fragmented. Ahmad held the city, and that mattered. He died in 1494, the same year the Uzbeks under Muhammad Shaybani began the campaigns that would extinguish Timurid rule in the region within a decade.