Help needed on islamic copper / lion on both faces

[Manzikert]

I have this piece which has a lion and ornaments both sides: there seems to be no inscription. 3.73 gm, 19 mm max.

Does anyone have a suggestion as to its origin?

Alan

[andyg]

No takers for this one...
It must be from Iran - wonder if it ended up with two reverse dies for some reason.

[capnbirdseye]

That's made me wonder, we must presume it's an error coin where the striker picked up two of the same side dies, both sides have a slightly different design but it's the same type for sure

[Figleaf]

Exceptionally interesting coin, Manzikert. TFP.

First and foremost, the two dies are clearly different. I agree that this looks much like an error strike. That the dies are different is not strange, as they are hand cut. Errors are not strange either. Civic types were struck in a very informal environment. What is strange is to see these two dies together, because it means that there was a new die ready for use when the old die was still far from worn. Dies are expensive and the civic series are short, so why take the chance of making a die when you are not sure you will need it?

I don't think one side was over-struck. In that case, the other side would have suffered and at least have become blurry. I don't think the latest die was cut because the die sinker thought that if this town wouldn't buy it, he'd use it in the next town, because in that case it wouldn't have been lying around.

Summing it up, I can't think of a convincing scenario. That's my problem, not the coin's problem, but I'd still like to understand how this could have happened.

Peter

[Manzikert]

Thanks all.

I suspected a double obverse, but I was hoping someone might recognise the style as coming from a specific mint.

Ah well, it will just have to go in as a 'probably Iranian' error

Alan

[saro]

A persian copper coin with the same design  on both sides has been posted by Maudry some time ago, see  here / lion & sun type, most probably of Isfahan mint.
Yours shows a up tail lion which is mainly seen on Shiraz coppers.

[Figleaf]

The plot thickens. It happens more often, in different towns and (but that may be my imagination) they are better than average struck. A new option crops up in my mind: specially struck for jewellery purposes.

Peter

[saro]

This  coin  shows on each side the print of a die usually used for the reverse.
As it was noticed by Vic and Peter, these 2 matrices are not strictly similar although of the same type.
A possible scenario : in the workshop, several workers strike  the same type of coins with obverse and reverse dies placed randomly on anvil or hammer sides (fix and mobile dies); for some reason, wanted or not, a worker has taken the hammer die of his colleague ( reverse die with a lion ) and struck his coins on his own fix die (which was too a reverse).

The worshop could well have been Shiraz mint 

[Figleaf]

I was hoping you would say that. My expertise is restricted largely to what I have read on this site. I can remember two descriptions of an Afghan mint and in both, there is one master and one minter. I like the two minters scenario, but didn't know if it was realistic. See also this reconstruction.

Peter