Copper 7.90 g - Princely state?

[Small change]

Hello. This ovoid AE is 16 mm at widest and 18 mm height, 3 mm thick. Obverse is a script that appears to be Arabic, with 5 groups of letters, largely worn.


Reverse appears to be a leaf, which I have shown in four possible orientations, marked up in blue by my unsteady hand on a PC mouse: the actual is more symmetrical, more so than the shape of the flan - not at all like the kind of shriveled pepper I've drawn.


The weight is 7.90 g, which fits in with a paisa or half of the western or central princely states of India.

My apologies for relying on scans to post images.

Mike

[jkk]

The hard part here is that the blue markings on the reverse pics obscure whatever is actually there. A falus is possible, and that's definitely the Arabic script on the obverse: Might be WA MD LA ILAH, perhaps 'el-Hamdullilah' (a common articulation in Arabic upon something good happening: 'the praise to Allah.' If so, I'd guess at a mosque token rather than a circulation coin.

[Small change]

Thanks, Jonathan. The side I take as reverse was weakly struck and worn, but I've posted an image without the blue marking, orienting the thick lines in the direction that would make sense if they are writing rather than a leaf or such. Otherwise, I think the most likely orientation would be a rotation 90 degrees right - die axis 12.




Mike

[Small change]

[Figleaf]

Just a wild thought, Mike. Could that be a poppy leaf you see on the worn side? They come in several shapes.

I am asking for a reason. Throughout India's history, there was an opium sector of the economy, but as the British influence grew, it became harder for the bosses to get small coppers to pay their workers. They started ordering copper coins that looked like official coins (kaccha paisa), but ended up with village smiths and barely recognisable pieces of copper. This may be a piece illustrating the intermediate part of the process: makes some sense on its own, but is not an imitation of an official coin.

Peter

[Small change]

Thanks, Peter! Yes, poppy leaf would fit, and kachcha paisa makes a lot of sense. I have a small box full of them.

Mike

[saro]

Solved, I think 
The coin is well worn and corroded, but looks very like a Deccan sultanate.
With some treatment of the picture, It's possible to detect some parts of the legend and I am quite certain that's a 2/3 gani of the Bahmani Sultan Mahmud
Ref G&G BH148

full legend on this sketch : "al-sultan Mahmud al-Bahman / be-nasr al-mu'ayyad Allah al-ghani"

[THCoins]

Saro !

[jkk]

Very nice work, Saro.

[mkm1968]

Saro, I have nothing more to add...

[Small change]

Truly amazing, Saro! Thank you.

Mike

[saro]

Many thanks to you all ! a quite common coin but saved from darkness...

in addition, the arabic legend is :" محمود السلطان / بنصر المؤيد الله الغني " / Mahmud the sultan, the supporter of Allah the "Rich" (sufficient in himself)

[Small change]

Yes, thank you everybody for your interest and expertise!

Mike

[Small change]

Other references, for the sake of the Grand Numismatic Alliance: Goron and Goenka #BH148, Numista #415459, and Zeno #80086, for example.

Mike

[Figleaf]

 

I would argue it's also for your sake. Those Xrefs give good, standardised information on your coin. We did the trick of going from a piece of metal to a piece of history, though.

Peter