Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXV 22-23 Sep 2022
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Timurids, Sultan Husayn Bayqara AV Donative/Presentation Ashrafi. Herat mint, AH 910 = AD 1504. Kalima in three lines; the names of the four 'Rightly Guided' Caliphs with their epithets, "Abu Bakr the Faithful", "Umar who Distinguishes Truth from Falsehood", "Uthman the Defender" and "Ali the Chosen One" all around in cartouches / "Bih bud Harat" (prosperity Herat) within a central polylobed cartouche; "the great Sultan, Abu'l-Ghazi Husayn Sultan the Brave, may Allah preserve and bless his sovereignty and sultanate" all around. Album A2431; cf. NGSA 8, lot 293; cf. Leu Numismatics 7, lot 2086. 4.79g, 23mm, 9h.
Good Extremely Fine. Of the greatest rarity, only a very few specimens known.
This donative or presentation ashrafi is, in the opinion of this cataloguer, one of the most elegant and exquisite examples of Husayn's coinage, a projection of the authority and legitimacy of the dynasty. The Timurids, in fact, considered themselves heir to the Chinghizid line, but with the need to balance the Turco-Mongolian and Islamic traditions against the evolving political situation.
Husayn's rise to power began after the Aq Qoyunlu leader Jahanshah defeated the Timurid Abu Sa'id in AH 873 / AD 1469. Becoming the Timurid ruler of Khorasan, he immediately set out for Herat, where he defeated Abu Sa'id's son. Husayn Bayqara presided over a flourishing cultural life in Herat: he is remembered as a patron of the arts who encouraged the intellectual life of the capital, and thus it is appropriate that his "bih bud" (prosperity) is rightly proclaimed on the reverse of this beautiful coin.
Good Extremely Fine. Of the greatest rarity, only a very few specimens known.
This donative or presentation ashrafi is, in the opinion of this cataloguer, one of the most elegant and exquisite examples of Husayn's coinage, a projection of the authority and legitimacy of the dynasty. The Timurids, in fact, considered themselves heir to the Chinghizid line, but with the need to balance the Turco-Mongolian and Islamic traditions against the evolving political situation.
Husayn's rise to power began after the Aq Qoyunlu leader Jahanshah defeated the Timurid Abu Sa'id in AH 873 / AD 1469. Becoming the Timurid ruler of Khorasan, he immediately set out for Herat, where he defeated Abu Sa'id's son. Husayn Bayqara presided over a flourishing cultural life in Herat: he is remembered as a patron of the arts who encouraged the intellectual life of the capital, and thus it is appropriate that his "bih bud" (prosperity) is rightly proclaimed on the reverse of this beautiful coin.