Akbar Dam Lakhnau AH987

[TTerrier]

This one is a work in progress - if I can get some help on the legend I will finish the overlay and update this post.  The yellow portions on the obverse overlay are confusing me - the one on the right may be part of zarb?  I have no idea about the one on the left - perhaps I have Khilafat incorrect.  Any assistance is much appreciated.

I have a few of these Akbar dams and a few more on the way - is it still possible to build a reasonable collection of Akbar dams?  I don't feel a need to chase extreme rarities but I don't want to start in a collecting area where I will quickly run out of coins that are reasonably obtainable in the market.  I am not so much concerned about price but whether the coins are actually offered for sale.  I would like an area where it will take years to build a collection - I know I can do that with rupees but I like the look and feel of the dams more.

And now on to the first one!

[abhinumis]

This one is a work in progress - if I can get some help on the legend I will finish the overlay and update this post.  The yellow portions on the obverse overlay are confusing me - the one on the right may be part of zarb?  I have no idea about the one on the left - perhaps I have Khilafat incorrect.  Any assistance is much appreciated.

I have a few of these Akbar dams and a few more on the way - is it still possible to build a reasonable collection of Akbar dams?  I don't feel a need to chase extreme rarities but I don't want to start in a collecting area where I will quickly run out of coins that are reasonably obtainable in the market.  I am not so much concerned about price but whether the coins are actually offered for sale.  I would like an area where it will take years to build a collection - I know I can do that with rupees but I like the look and feel of the dams more.

And now on to the first one!

. .
Welcome to the huge world of Akbar copper coins. I collect Akbar copper coins with much interest and enthusiasm and have added some rarities over the years( you can see a beautiful nim tanka of Sambhal as my profile pic). Will definitely love to help you out. It is a wide subject and more than 70 mints to go. Most mints have subtypes. It would not come as a surprise if you come across a new type. I recently discovered a new mint (to be published in journal of Oriental Numismatic Society). It is throughly enjoyable effort.

[abhinumis]

The yellow portion on obverse is part of Zarb at the lower side and part of 3 petalled flower in the 'seen ' of Falus.  Another correction would be the date. It is 987 in numerals as evidently seen and fi sanah  nuhshad hastad (not haftad) wa haft as date.

[TTerrier]

Thank you for your help abhinumis - I believe I've corrected the images for your comments although the exact placement of zarb is a guess.

I'm excited to hear that this is a fun collecting area - I'm sure 70 mints coupled with a 49 year reign will provide me with lots of enjoyment in tracking down and researching coins.  As I mentioned in one of my other posts my goal is to do one of these overlays for each coin I acquire as I find it helps me decipher them - sometimes its a process of elimination as I colour in words I know I can get some idea of what must be missing.

[Figleaf]

Happy to read about your co-operation on a very worthwhile project!

Peter

[abhinumis]

Thank you for your help abhinumis - I believe I've corrected the images for your comments although the exact placement of zarb is a guess.

I'm excited to hear that this is a fun collecting area - I'm sure 70 mints coupled with a 49 year reign will provide me with lots of enjoyment in tracking down and researching coins.  As I mentioned in one of my other posts my goal is to do one of these overlays for each coin I acquire as I find it helps me decipher them - sometimes its a process of elimination as I colour in words I know I can get some idea of what must be missing.

That is indeed a very good approach that I had myself followed since early in my collection days of Mughal coppers. You have got the obverse right. Only the 'Do chasmi' H of 'hastad' and 'haft ' needs a little tinkering. Do go through the posts in this forum that were posted earlier regarding Akbar coppers.
Since we are with Lucknow mint in Akbar, I would also tell you that there are 4 major varieties in Lucknow - 1) Sarkar Lucknow 2) Khitta Lucknow 3) Dar al khilafat Lucknow (this coin) and 4) Dar al salaam Lucknow with Allahu Akbar in reverse (rarest).

[TTerrier]

Thanks for your comments - it was difficult to find a good image with the "Do chasmi" shape on the coin flan but I think I have cleaned this up as much as I can.

Do you have any recommendations for reference materials on Akbar's copper coins?  I have Liddle's book for Jahangir and I have to say the format is a bit hard to follow - is his book on Akbar worthwhile?  Some additional tables in the book summarizing issues by mint and date would have been helpful.  I don't understand why authors don't include both line drawings of the script on the coins and transliterations (usually it's just the transliteration).  It would also be nice to see some discussion on the different types and why they were issued - you mentioned there are 4 types for Lakhnau so I'm guessing it might be a similar situation for other mints.

I also just got Valentine's book and while it is lacking as a catalogue it is an incredible book considering what he produced by hand.  The list of common words and numerals in the various scripts is very useful to a novice like me.  His line drawings are also really good - I would find his book interesting even if I wasn't a collector.

[abhinumis]

I did not find Liddle's book worthwhile.. While the illustrations of the Akbar book is poor and does not cover all the varieties, Jahangir one is worse with some very weird and implausible reading and made up mint names. Some fakes are also added as coins. I suggest you refer to zeno.ru for Akbar coppers. It has a lot of coins contributed my me also.
Zeno - Oriental Coins Database - Mughal Empire .here is the link

Valentine is a classic! The amount of knowledge in that small handbook is amazing and what he did in that time is worith marvelling. There are few corrections in Valentine in light of new findings of course. But those are few . A worthy book indeed