INDIA, Mughal Empire. Nur al-Din Muhammad Jahangir. AH 1014-1037 / AD 1605-1627. AV Mohur (20mm, 10.82 g, 6h). Zodiac Type (month of Khurdad), Class A. Agra mint. Dually dated AH 1029 and RY 15 (22 May-21 June AD 1620). NGC XF 45.

Triton XXVII
Lot: 1139. Estimated: $ 75 000

World, Coin-in-Hand Video, Gold

Sold For $ 75 000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

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INDIA, Mughal Empire. Nur al-Din Muhammad Jahangir. AH 1014-1037 / AD 1605-1627. AV Mohur (20mm, 10.82 g, 6h). Zodiac Type (month of Khurdad), Class A. Agra mint. Dually dated AH 1029 and RY 15 (22 May-21 June AD 1620). Constellation of Dopatkar/Mithuna (Gemini the Twins): pair of nude twins embracing, right twin raising left leg slightly; radiate sun behind / zar zewar dar Agra ruye yaft az Jahangir Shah Akbar Shah (Received ornament on gold at Agra from Jahangir Shah [son of] Akbar Shah) in Persian verse; partial AH and RY dates to left. Liddle Type G-83; BM 330; IMC (Wright) 575; Adams III, lot 2401 (same dies, but later die state); Hull 1385 and 1387; KM 180.6; Friedberg 764. Light orange toning. In NGC encapsulation 6866428-001, graded XF 45. Bold detail to twins. One of the rarest and most desirable types in the Zodiac series.

Before this, the rule of the coinage was that on the face of the metal they stamped my name, and on the reverse the name of the place and the year of the reign. At this time it entered my mind that in place of the month they should substitute the figure of the constellation which belonged to that month...in each month that was struck, the figure of the constellation was to be on one face, as if the sun was emerging from it.

The Memoirs of Jahangir [Tuzk-e Jahangiri] (Entry for 20 March 1619)

It was the Mughal emperor Akbar (1556-1605) who established the Din-e Ilahi (literally, ‘Faith of God’), a syncretic belief system that incorporated elements of the different faiths in his empire. From the twenty-ninth year of his reign, Akbar began to use a new system of dating called the Ilahi Era, based on a solar, rather than lunar, calendar with the year divided into twelve Ilahi months. Jahangir (1605-1628), Akbar's son and immediate successor, continued to use the Ilahi Era, and struck coins which featured designs appropriate to this new system of dating. These include his celebrated Zodiac series, bearing representations of each of the twelve constellations of the Zodiac on the reverse. Since the Ilahi months were solar months and corresponded with the solar ecliptic (an imaginary line in the sky that marks the annual path of the sun), each month was represented by an appropriate sign of the Zodiac, recording its particular month of issue.



The final winners of all Triton XXVII lots will be determined at the live public sale that will be held on 9-10 January 2024.

Triton XXVII – Session Four – Lot 984–1341 will be held Wednesday afternoon, 10 January 2024 beginning at 2:00 PM ET.

Winning bids are subject to a 22.5% buyer's fee for bids placed on this website and 25% for all others.

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