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Afghanistan civic copper possibly uniface strike 4 petalled flower

Started by MORGENSTERNN, May 20, 2024, 01:38:49 PM

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MORGENSTERNN

Hello,

Among a lot of Afghanistan civic copper coins I found a possibly uniface strike issue bearing a 4 petalled flower motive (first pictures below)

I have found 3 other examples on Zeno here and here and on WOC in a post from Vic here (pictures also below)

On all those coins the reverse seems obliterated as if they were stroke by a hammer on a flat surface.

I don't know if any other afghan civic "uniface issue" is recorded, but a similar motive has been used in several mints as Herat, Peshawar, Qandahar and Ghazna (links on Zeno coins)

Those coins were stroke on various host, without proper mint name.
My best guess is Herat mint that doesn't stroke any dated coins from 1305AH to 1311AH the 1305AH type is bearing a 4 petalled flower motive also present on a 1298AH type.



Figleaf

This delightful post deserves a comment, because Morgensternn's theory is very interesting.

From what we know, the civic coppers served as a "market tax". Caravan crews would be obliged to exchange something tradeable (e.g. silver coins) for the coppers at the mint. The coppers would be used to pay for small purchases and repairs. They would be proper to the city they were issued only and they would have a limited validity.

Morgensternn posits that these coins/tokens were struck in several places. If so, this means that the profit would not fall to the mint/city but to the maker of the four-leafed pieces. Alternatively, the cities would have concluded an alliance to accept each other's coppers. That would be more efficient for the caravan crews, but it would cost the cities money. It is possible if competition from outside the alliance forced the alliance cities to be less greedy.

What do you think?

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.