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 Replies: 15 / Views: 12,104 |
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Pillar of the Community
India
1995 Posts |
Given below is the image of a coin of Sikandar shah the last ruler of the Madura sultanate (1372-77).  Now see a coin of Sikandar of Delhi (1394)  Please post comments Edited by drnsreedhar
12/04/2010 4:18 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2605 Posts |
I've always been in awe of people who could "read" these coins (including contemporary folks circulating them). Another amazing (at least for me  ) fact is that I can find similar looking coins (at least to me  ) that were struck just last century! |
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Pillar of the Community
 India
1995 Posts |
There is a surprising similarity between coins of different rulers of different dynasties of India. You can read "Sikandar Shah" on the obverse of both the coins. In a coin of Alauddin Khilji of Delhi(1295-1316), You find one side is ditto reading "ala ud dunya wa aldin",but the other side is totally different. This interesting feature has existed in many dynasties over centuries in some cases.So similar looking coins may be there but they share nothing more than the look.Is it not really challenging? Here is an image of the Ala ud din Khilji coin.Compare the obverse of this with the reverse of Sikandar's coin of Madurai.They read ditto.  The striking feature is that these coins are apart by three quarters of a century chronologically and 2000(two thousand)kilometres geographically. Edited by drnsreedhar
12/04/2010 10:57 pm
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Moderator
 Australia
16827 Posts |
For me, it always makes it easier to already know what the coins are supposed to say. I can read "Shah Skndr Sultan" on the top coin, and "(Sultan?) Shah Skn..." on the bottom coin. That's enough info for me to pick the name and to narrow down the IDs using the ruler index Goron & Goenka. The Madura one is a definite match for the paisa, G&G MD42, the Dehli one a falus, G&G D610. However, I will confess that if I was looking one up and found the other, I might think "that's close enough" and not bother to search for a better match. I'll also tend to assume that, if identity is ambiguous, that I have the commoner of the two possibilities. D610 is "scarce", but unfortunately my copy of G&G has a line missing for MD42, so I have no idea how rare it is. And if you showed me the same coins a couple of months from now and asked me to identify them from scratch, I'd have trouble reading anything but "shah" and "sultan" - two words which generally don't help much on Indian Sultanate coins! I'd probably assume the "k" was a numeral 2 and part of the date!  Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
India
1995 Posts |
Hi Sap, nice that you can narrow down ID by reading the name of the ruler. I can give you a clue to identify Delhi coin. On the image on the right of the coin of Sikandar of Delhi, you can see دﻫﻠﻯ
This reads Dehli ie Delhi. Once you see this, be sure it is Delhi. This is often seen on Firoz Shah Tughlak coins very clearly. Hope this will help. Thanks for your response.
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Pillar of the Community
India
1995 Posts |
I wish to post images of a few more coins from Indian sultanates bearing the common legend "Ala Al Dunya wa Aldin" on one side.The legend on the other side differs in all of them.  This is an issue of Ala uddin Bahman Shah, the Bahmani ruler.  Here is a coin of Ala uddin Mahmud, the Malwa ruler.This contains "As sultan al azam" in addition on the rev.  and now is a coin of Ala uddin Udauji shah of Madura sultanate There are a few more interesting coins of different rulers that share similar legends(other than the present one discussed). I shall post some of them later. If anybody has coins with such similarity and of different rulers, please post images.Edited by drnsreedhar
12/16/2010 09:37 am
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Pillar of the Community
India
1995 Posts |
Another "Ala ud din" coin The portion of legend on the image on right side "علاا" reads "Ala".This is a coin of Ala ud din Masud,Delhi sultan(1242-1246.AD).Image on the left side depicts a stylized horseman to the right and the legend above reads "Masud"in Persoarabic script.In the image on right,the rest of the legend is "As sultan al azam (Ala) ud dunya".  
Edited by drnsreedhar
07/09/2011 02:49 am
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2875 Posts |
Thank you very much drnsreedhar. We definitely need more informative threads like this to help us understand Indian numismatics better.
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Pillar of the Community
India
1995 Posts |
Alauddin coins without "Ala uddin"Posted below are coins of two rulers who bear "Ala ud din" in their name but omitted on coins.
Ala ud din Mujahid shah, the Bahmani King(1375-78 AD)  Ala ud din Muhammad shah-4,another Bahmani ruler(1521-22 AD) 
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Pillar of the Community
India
1995 Posts |
Here are a few more coins. First one is of Ala ud din Ahmad shah-II (1436-1458.AD)the Bahmani ruler.His copper coins usually did not bear the "Ala ud din" part of his name.  The next coin belongs to Ala ud din Humayun shah (1458-1461.AD).This also does not have "Ala ud din" struck on it.  And now observe a silver Tanka of Ahmad shah-II bearing "Ala ud din".  Thank you for being here. Please post images you may have of coins of Indian rulers with "Ala ud din" as part of their title. |
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Pillar of the Community
India
1995 Posts |
A little bit of history about Sikandar shah of Delhi may be of interest.During the turmoil that followed the death of Firoz shah (1351-88), rulers were visitors to the throne until 1394. Ala ud din Sikandar is the last one among them who came to the throne on 22nd of January 1394 and died on 8th of March the same year after a "rule" of one and a half months.
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Pillar of the Community
India
1995 Posts |
A few more look alike coins from Indian Sultanates  This is a coin of Muhammad shah of Delhi. Please see overlay below  |
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Pillar of the Community
India
1995 Posts |
This is a coin of Muhammad shah of Malwa.  Here, "Sultan" is below "Muhammad". But on the other side, "Dar ul mulk" is also seen. But mint name is "Shadiabad".  |
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Pillar of the Community
India
1995 Posts |
And here is another coin of Mahmud shah of Malwa.  Here the obverse legend is same as that of Muhammad. But on the obverse, "Mahmud" is struck.  |
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Pillar of the Community
India
1995 Posts |
In the case the following two coins, legend on both the sides reads the same. On one coin, "Sultan" is written with full "sa" and on the other it is shortened. That with full "sa" is from Madurai sultanate and with short "sa" from Delhi. I had mis-attributed the Delhi coin to Giyaz ud din Tughlak, but G&G confirms it to Giyaz ud din Balban.  |
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Pillar of the Community
India
1995 Posts |
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Replies: 15 / Views: 12,104 |
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Posted 12/04/2010 10:46 pm
