Muhammad Shah. Rupee. Mint: Zain ul Bilad - Ahmedabad? - Various Dates.

Started by Husain Makda, November 15, 2012, 06:37:29 PM

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Husain Makda

Muhammad shah Zainul Bilad (Ahmedabad) 1135/4
Blessed by the Masters.

asm

Coins in the name of Muhammad Shah with the mint name Zain ul Bilad are regularly encountered. However, unlike the earlier coins of Rafi ud Darjat where the mint name is written as Zeenat ul Bilad Ahmedabad, these coins do not bear the word Ahmedabad on them. THe attribution to Ahmedabad is based purely on the assumption that the coins continued from the earlier reign with the same mint name (slightly altered but missing the place name) and the fact that no coins issued from Ahmedabad till the RY 7 of Muhamad Shah with the mint name 'AHMEDABAD' have been seen.

The mystery remains - whether these are coins of Ahmedabd or some other mint place?

Here is what Oesho mentions on ZENO: Ahmadabad is not mentioned on the coins, but due to the similarity with the coins of Rafi-ud-darjat it is considered to be Ahmadabad. Moreover issues of Ahmadabad are missing for the years the above rupees were struck.

Frank Timmerman adds: Regnal years 4, 5 and 6 are known for this type.


Here is a coin of RY 7 - the last known year of coins bearing this mint name.

Amit
"It Is Better To Light A Candle Than To Curse The Darkness"

Husain Makda

Blessed by the Masters.

asm

Quote from: Husain Makda on April 04, 2018, 06:53:26 PM
Here is RY AHD.
Thanks for the image of this great coin. That tosses the conventional wisdom for a six. Now how does one explain the existence of the two mint names for the same mint?

Amit
"It Is Better To Light A Candle Than To Curse The Darkness"

abhinumis

Don't be sure about Muhammad Shah .. Shahjahanabad also changed the couplet from badshah ghazi to sahib qiran from ry2... Now I think it is safe to consider Zain ul bilad as Ahmedabad as Ahmedabad as there is a prescedence here.. However if records suggests that mint was operated from somewhere else other than the site of the earlier official mint, then that has to be investigated,, For e.g. During SA I's reign, the mint was shifted from Murshidabad to nearby Karimabad
Dr.Abhishek

asm

Quote from: abhinumis on April 05, 2018, 09:04:42 AM
Don't be sure about Muhammad Shah .. Shahjahanabad also changed the couplet from badshah ghazi to sahib qiran from ry2...
Here the legend remains the same only the mint name changes - only to revert to the original name in a few years. I believe RY 3 also exists with the mint name Ahmedabad while RY 4 to 7 exist with the name Zain ul Bilad and in RY 7 it again reverts back to Ahmedabad.

Quote from: abhinumis on April 05, 2018, 09:04:42 AM
During SA I's reign, the mint was shifted from Murshidabad to nearby Karimabad
The mint was shifted and so the mint name changed.

So now we need to look for the records of the mint having moved / change of mint masters / presence of two governors .           but first we need to gather data if indeed there was an overlap of dates or was there a transition from one to the other and then back to square one.......... .

Amit
"It Is Better To Light A Candle Than To Curse The Darkness"

asm

Added a few more coins. It appears the the coin in the first post - by Husain Makda has found its way (through many hands, I presume) in to my collection now. So here are a few of my coins.

AH 1135 / RY 4 (Husain's coin in the first post)
AH 1137 / RY 6
AH 113(8?) / RY 7

Amit
"It Is Better To Light A Candle Than To Curse The Darkness"

SBOx

Peter Kranevald alerted me to this discussion.
Before we go any further, has anyone checked Alfred Master's article in the 'Numismatic Supplement' about coins of Ahmadabad? What does he have to say about this?


asm

I am not sure if the work you refer to is the article on the post Mughal coins of Ahmedabad. That is the only one that I have from Alfred Master. I could not find anything in that article.

I also looked up the article by GP Taylor, on the coins of Ahmedabad - which deals with the coins issued at Ahmedabad in the name of the Mughal Rulers. Though he has listed the coins of Muhammad Shah, I did not find any information on the mint named Zain al Bilad. There is a mention of the coins of Rafi who had issued coins with the epithet 'Zeenat al Bilad' AHMEDABAD.

If there is any other reference available on the coins of Ahmedabad, I'd grateful if you could provide the details.

Amit
"It Is Better To Light A Candle Than To Curse The Darkness"