Timurids. Sultan Husayn. Third reign, AH 873-911 / AD 1469-1506. AV Double Ashrafi (26mm, 9.53 g, 2h). Harat mint. Dated AH 894 (AD 1488/9). Good VF.

Islamic Auction 5 - Session 1
Lot: 188. Estimated: $ 7 500

Post-Mongol Dynasties, Gold

Sold For $ 6 000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

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Timurids. Sultan Husayn. Third reign, AH 873-911 / AD 1469-1506. AV Double Ashrafi (26mm, 9.53 g, 2h). Harat mint. Dated AH 894 (AD 1488/9). Reverse: al-sultan al-a’zam / al-sultan Husayn / al-ghazī / abu sultan / Bahadur - mulkahu / khallada Allah ta‘ala / sultan 894; in central cartouche: bih bud Harat. Cf. Triton XXI (9 January 2018), lot 952 (dated AH 895). Pierced. Good VF. Of the highest rarity, apparently unpublished.

While the Timurids struck an abundant silver coinage, gold Timurid coins are excessively rare. This handsome and impressive piece was almost certainly struck for presentation at the Timurid court, and this doubtless accounts for it having been pierced for wearing.

Sultan Husayn Bayqara encouraged and presided over a brilliant cultural and political life in Harat, whose ‘beh bud’ (‘prosperity’) motto is proclaimed on the reverse of this coin. He became famous for the artistic excellence of his surviving buildings, and also as a patron of the arts, who encouraged the intellectual and artistic life of Harat and wrote his own poetry in both Persian and Turkish. Despite the words Allah ta‘ala (‘God the most high’) on the obverse of this coin, Husayn Bayqara was not a religious zealot. He issued Sunni coins in Sunni areas and Shi‘ite coins in Twelver Shi‘a areas, and offended the pious with his neglect of the prescribed prayers, refusal to fast and enjoyment of wine. By AH 906 (1500/1) this style of rule made the fall of the Timurids inevitable. The Uzbek Sunni ruler Muhammad Shaybani conquered Samarkand, while the Sh‘'ite Shah Isma‘il I laid the foundations of the great Safavid empire. One year after his death, the Shaybanis entered Herat and Husayn Bayqara’s sons fled the city.



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