Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T02:35:13.317Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Coinage of the Qajars: a System in Continual Transition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Priscilla Soucek
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In Iran, long-standing traditions linked the power and prestige of a ruler with the quality and appearance of coins minted in his name. Normally each dynastic or generational shift was made visibly manifest by changes in the character and appearance of a region's coins. In general, coins issued by the Qajars from Fath ᶜAli Shah to Nasir al-Din Shah followed precedents established by earlier Muslim rulers but the Qajars also sponsored novel experiments, such as the elimination of religious phrases, the occasional use of figural designs and the replacement of hammered coins with machine made examples. It is these contradictory impulses of adherence to custom and the pursuit of innovation that give Qajar coinage its particular fascination. The richest and most varied examples were issued during the reign of Fath ᶜAli Shah (1797-1834). Not surprisingly his coins differ significantly from those issued by his less powerful predecessors, Muhammad Hasan Khan Qajar and Aqa Muhammad Khan Qajar.

Type
Articles
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 34 , Issue 1-4: Qajar Art and Society , 2001 , pp. 51 - 87
Copyright
Copyright © Association For Iranian Studies, Inc 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Poole, Reginald S., The Coins of the Shahs of Persia, Safavis, Afghans, Efsharis, Zands and Kajars (Tehran: 1976)Google Scholar (reprint of: Catalogue of Coins of the Shahs of Persia in the British Museum (London: 1887)Google Scholar; Rabino di Borgomale, H. L. Coins, Medals, and Seals of the Shahs of Iran (1500-1941) (Hartford: 1945).Google Scholar Rabino di Borgomale, H. L, Album of Coins, Medals, and Seals of the Shahs of Iran 1500-1948, ed. Moshiri, M. (Tehran: 1974)Google Scholar (reprint of London: 1951); Chester L Krause and Clifford Mishler, Standard Catalogue of World Coins, Deluxe ANA Centennial Edition, 2 vols. (Iola, WI, n d.), 1706-32; Album, Stephen, A Checklist of Islamic Coins, 2nd ed. (Santa Rosa, CA, 1998)Google Scholar.

2. Album, Islamic Coins, 135.

3. Album, Stephen, Bates, Michael L. and Floor, Willem, “Coins and Coinage,” Encyclopaedia Iranica (EIr), 6: 36–37.Google Scholar

4. Album, Islamic Coins, 135-39.

5. Matthee, Rudi, “Between Venice and Surat: The Trade in Gold in Late Safavid Iran,” Modern Asian Studies, 34 (2000): 223–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

6. Richards, J. F., “Introduction,” in Precious Metals in the Later Medieval and Early Modern Worlds, ed. Richards, J. F. (Durham, 1983), 3–10.Google Scholar

7. Dale, Stephen Frederic, Indian Merchants and the Eurasian Trade, 1600-1750 (Cambridge, 1994)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

8. Sahillioğlu, H., “The Introduction of Machinery in the Ottoman Mint,” in Transfer of Modern Science & Technology to the Muslim World, ed. Ihsanoğlu, E. (Istanbul: 1992), 261–81Google Scholar; Matthee, Rudi, “Changing the Mintmaster: The Introduction of Mechanized Minting in Qajar Iran,” Itinerario, 19 (1995): 3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar European Journal of Overseas History, 109-10; Album, Islamic Coins, 65.

9. Matthee, “Between Venice and Surat,” 241-47.

10. Ibid., 225-27, 234-36.

11. Bates, M. and Darley-Doran, R. E., “The Art of Islamic Coinage” in Treasures of Islam (Geneva: 1985), 380–82.Google Scholar

12. Matthee, “Between Venice and Surat,” 235-39.

13. Album, Islamic Coins, 9-10.

14. Ibid., 131, 136;. Lambton, Ann K. S., Qajar Persia: Eleven Studies (Austin, 1987), 4–9Google Scholar.

15. Rabino, Album of Coins, pls. 6, 7; fig. 3.

16. Bates and Darley-Doran, “The Art of Islamic Coinage,” 377-8, nos. 476-78.

17. Poole, Coins of the Shahs, 19-24; Rabino, Album of Coins, 3-4, nos. 135-55, 156-65, pl. 6.

18. Album, Islamic Coins, 126, 128.

19. Rabino, Album of Coins, nos. 10,12, pl. 38; no. 23, pl. 40.

20. Abu'l-Fazl ᶜAllami, The Āᵓīn-i Akbarī, trans. Jarrett, H. S., 3 vols in 2 (New Delhi, 1989) 1: 22–31Google Scholar; Deyell, J. S., “The Development of Akbar's Currency System and Monetary Integration of the Conquered Kingdoms,” in The Imperial Monetary System of Mughal India, ed. Richards, J. R. (Delhi, 1987), 30–33.Google Scholar

21. Deyell, “The Development of Akbar's Currency System, “35-37.

22. Lane-Poole, Coins of the Shahs, 17, pl. 3, no. 63.

23. Rabino, Album of Coins, nos. 253-59; Bates and Darley-Doran, 104, no. 561; Abu'l-Fazl, Āᶜīn-i Akbarī 1: 30–31.Google Scholar

24. Rabino, Album of Coins, nos. 541-42, pl. 21.

25. Rabino, Coins, Medals, and Seals of the Shāhs of Iran (1500-1941) (Hartford, 1945), 30–31Google Scholar; Album, Islamic Coins, 129; Poole, Coins of the Shahs, 20.

26. Mitchiner, Michael, Oriental Coins and their Values: The World of Islam (London, 1977), 293.Google Scholar

27. Lane-Poole, Stanley, The Coins of the Moghul Emperors in the British Museum, ed. Poole, R. S. (London, 1892), nos. 169, 175, p. 33-4, pl. 5.Google Scholar

28. Rabino, Coins, Medals, and Seals, 48-62.

29. Album, Islamic Coins, 132.

30. Rabino, Coins, Medals, and Seals, 61-63; Rabino, Album of Coins, 74, pl. 20.

31. Rabino, Coins, Medals and Seals, 58-59; Rabino, Album of Coins, nos. 480-484, p. 9, pl. 19.

32. Rabino, Coins, Medals and Seals, 62.

33. Poole, Coins of the Shahs, 109-112.

34. Ibid., 133-39.

35. Hasan-i Fasaᵓi, Fārsnāmah-i Nāṣirī, 2 vols. ed. M. Rastkar Fasaᵓi (Tehran, 1988), 1: 617Google Scholar; H. Busse, History of Persia under Qajar Rule, trans. of H. Fasaᵓi's Fārsnāmah-i Nāṣirī (hereafter Fasaᵓi/Busse), (New York, 1972), 4–5.Google Scholar

36. Rabino, Album of Coins, nos. 521-524, p. 10, pl. 20.

37. Rabino, Album of Coins, pls. 48-51, no. 36; Diba, Layla S. and Ekhtiar, Maryam, Royal Persian Paintings: The Qajar Epoch 1785-1925, (Brooklyn, 1998), 180–1, 182, 185-6 nos. 37, 39, 41Google Scholar; Adamova, Adel, Persidskaya Zhivopis’ i Risunok XV-XIX vekov v sobranii Ermitazha, (St. Petersburg, 1996), nos. 64–65, pp. 287-89.Google Scholar

38. Album, Islamic Coins, 137; Rabino, Album of Coins,64.

39. Fasaᵓi/Busse, 1-5.

40. Amanat, Abbas, Pivot of the Universe: Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar and the Iranian Monarchy, 1831-1896, (Berkley, 1997), 2.Google Scholar

41. Artuk, I. and Artuk, Cevriye, Istanbul Arkeoloji Müzelerϊ Tehhirdeki Islâmî Sikkeler Kataloğu (Istanbul, 1974), no. 1710, p. 597Google Scholar, pl. LXXI, nos. 1902-03, pp. 667-68.

42. Album, Islamic Coins, 137.

43. Poole, Coins of the Shahs, no. 499, p. 164, pl. XIV.

44. Artuk and Artuk, Islâmî Sikkeler Kataloğu, no. 1738, p. 613, nos. 1778-1779, pp. 632-33.

45. Rogers, J. M. trans, and ed., The Topkapi Saray Museum. Architecture: The Harem and Other Buildings (Boston, 1988)Google Scholar, pls. 28, 30, 37, 44, 45.

46. Arseven, C. E., Les Arts Décoratifs Turcs, (Istanbul, n.d.), figs. 376–77.Google Scholar

47. Sahillioğlu, H., “The Role of International Monetary and Metal Movements in Ottoman Monetary History 1300-1750” in Precious Metals in the Later Medieval and Early Modern Worlds, ed. Richards, J. F. (Durham: 1983), 263–64.Google Scholar

48. Ibid., 265-67.

49. Artuk and Artuk, Islâmî Sikkeler, no. 1710, p. 597, pl. LXXI; Broome, Michael, A Handbook of Islamic Coins (London, 1985), no. 253, p. 160.Google Scholar

50. Busse, H., “ᶜAbbās Mīrzā,” EIr, 1: 79–84.Google Scholar

51. Rabino, Album of Coins, no. 40, p. 18, pl. 43.

52. Bates and Darley-Doran, “Islamic Coinage,” 394, no. 558.

53. Rabino, Album of Coins, nos. 36-38, p. 18, pl. 42; Chester L. Krause and Clifford Mishler, Standard Catalogue, 1720.

54. Soudavar, Abolala, Art of the Persian Courts (New York, 1992), no. 158, pp. 388–89.Google Scholar

55. Fasaᵓi 1: 727; Fasaᵓi/Busse, 172-73.

56. Album, Islamic Coins, 137.

57. H. Busse, “ᶜAbbās Mīrzā.”.

58. Album, Islamic Coins, 129-31.

59. Fasaᵓi 1: 326.

60. Rabino, Album of Coins, no. 39, p. 18, pl. 43.

61. Kazemzadeh, F., “Iranian Relations with Russia and the Soviet Union to 1921,” The Cambridge History of Iran, (Cambridge: 1991), 7: 336–38.Google Scholar

62. Rabino, Album of Coins, no. 576, p. 10, pl. 23; Krause and Mishler, 2: 1720.

63. Rabino, Album of Coins, pl. 23, nos. 575, 577, 582; Krause and Mishler, 2: 1720.

64. Fasa'i 1: 725-26; Fasaᵓi/Busse, 170-71.

65. Diba and Ekhtiar, 41, 51, figs, 11a, 14a-14b; Adamova, Persidskaya Zhivopis', 296-97, nos. 70-71.

66. Diba and Ekhtiar, nos. 34a-c and fig. XIV, pp. 174-77. (Also see Amanat, pl. 4 in this issue.)

67. Diba and Ekhtiar, fig. 11b, p. 41, no. 35, pp. 176-77; Adamova, 1996, nos. 68-69, pp. 292-95

68. Rabino, Album of Coins, 10-11, nos. 581-582, pl. 23, no. 603, pl. 24; figs. 31-32.

69. Fasa'i 1: 761-62; Fasa'i/Busse, 232-33; Rabino, Coins, Medals, and Seals 70.Google Scholar

70. Rabino, Album of Coins, no. 40, p. 20, pl. 51; Diba and Ekhtiar, 224-25, no. 67.

71. Diba and Ekhtiar, 180-88, nos. 37-42.

72. Rabino, Album of Coins, 11, nos. 583-587, pl. 23; Diba and Ekhtiar, 194-5, 204, nos. 47, 55.

73. Rabino, Album of Coins, no. 33, p. 18, pl. 42.

74. Krause and Mishler, 2: 1777-78.

75. Krause and Mishler, 2: 2700.

76. Album, Bates, and Floor, “Coins and Coinage,” 37; Rabino, Album of Coins, 11 no. 583, pl. 23.

77. Matthee, “Changing the mintmaster,” 111-12.

78. Fasa'i 1: 761-62, 767; Fasa'i/Busse, 232-233, 242.

79. Tenth series, years 26-32, Krause and Mishler, 2: 2696.

80. Fasa'i 1: 770; Fasa'i/Busse, 24.

81. Rabino, Album of Coins, 10-11, nos. 575, 577, 578, 582, pl. 23.

82. Fasa'i, 1: 771-76; Fasa'i/Busse, 250, 253-56.

83. Diba and Ekhtiar, 231-33, no. 72; Treasures of Islam (Geneva, 1985), 182–83, no. 162.Google Scholar

84. Album, A Checklist, 138.

85. Matthee, “Changing the mintmaster,” figs. 3-4.

86. Amanat, Abbas, “Nāṣir al-Dīn Shāh,” Encyclopaedia of Islam, (New Edition) (EI2) 7: 1003–05.Google Scholar

87. Fasa'i, 1: 788; Fasa'i/Busse, 283.

88. Matthee, “Changing the mintmaster” 111Google Scholar.

89. Poole, The Coins of the Shahs of Persia, 187-88, nos. 578-81, pl. XV.

90. Amanat, Pivot of the Universe, pl. 22, Diba and Ekhtiar, 174-77, 240, no. 34 a-c.

91. Rabino, Album of Coins, 11, no. 603, pl. 24.

92. Krause and Mishler, 1723-24; Mitchiner, Oriental Coins, 301 nos. 2164-67; Album, A Checklist, 138-39.

93. Diba and Ekhtiar, 241-45, nos. 74-75,; Adamova, Persidskaya Zhivopis', 326-27, no. 88.

94. Amanat, Pivot of the Universe 140, fig. 4.Google Scholar

95. Bates and Darley-Doran, 195, nos. 563-66.

96. Diba and Ekhtiar, 244-45, no. 75.

97. Amanat, Pivot of the Universe 176, pl. 8.Google Scholar

98. Amanat, Pivot of the Universe 177, 181Google Scholar, pls. 9, 13; Fasa'i, 1: 803, 808; Fasa'i/Busse, 309, 318.

99. Amanat, Pivot of the Universe, 89-168.

100. Ibid., 248.

101. A. K. S. Lambton, “Kirmānshāh,” EI2; Hambly, Gavin, “The Traditional Iranian City in the Qajar Period, The Cambridge History of Iran, 7: 559–63.Google Scholar

102. Rabino, Album of Coins, 11, 24, nos. 629-32: Poole, The Coins of the Shahs, 191, no. 588.

103. Artuk and Artuk, 699, no. 2012, pl. LXXXV.

104. Umur, Suha, Osmanh Padishah Tuğralar (Istanbul, 1980), 297–301.Google Scholar

105. Krause and Mishler, 2: 80-86.

106. Matthee, “Changing the mintmaster,” 113-16.

107. Ibid., 119-24.

108. Krause and Mishler, 2: 1723.

109. Rabino, Album of Coins, 10, no. 562, pl. 22; 11, no. 639, pl. 24.

110. Matthee, “Changing the mintmaster,” fig. 2.

111. Ibid., 116-21, fig. 5.

112. Rabino, Album of Coins, pls. 25-26, 43-45; Krause and Mishler, 2: 1724-32.

113. Rabino, Album of Coins, 12, nos. 646, 654, pl. 25.

114. Ibid., 19, no. 64, pl. 45.

115. Krause and Mishler, 2: 1729-31.

116. Adamova, Persidskaya Zhivopis', 350-51, no. 108.

117. Diba and Ekhtiar, 262-64, nos. 87-88.

118. Matthee, “Changing the mintmaster” 111.Google Scholar