II. In H. 982 and thereafter for several years the Fulūs exhibited a design more elaborate and ornate (Fig 2). On the obverse the honorific epithet Dar-al-saltanat was associated with the mint name Aḥmadābād, and across both the obverse and the reverse was inscribed a diameter of dots flanked both above and below by a straight line Thus : Rev. Obv. احمد آباد دارالسلطنة ب فل احمد آباد احمد آباد فلوس III. In supersession of this variety there appeared in the year Ilahi 38 (H. 1001), or perhaps earlier, a third form of Falūs (Fig. 3.) of a markedly different design, the reverse inscription being entirely new. From the obverse legend both the technical term and the mint's title Dār-al-saltanat are omitted, so that only the two words Fūlus Aḥmadābād survive. On the reverse above the dotted and linear diameter the term Ilahi is written in full, with its final ye swooping backwards right across the coin, while to the right we have in figures the year of issue dating from the Ilahi era. The lower half of the reverse is reserved for the Persian name of the month of issue. Thus : (a) Obv. Rev. Rev. في نهصد دو هشتاد ۹۸۲ dive ۳۸ الهی My cabinet contains a sub-variety of this type of Fulus (Fig 4) in which the ornamental diameter composed of dots and lines is wanting on both obverse and reverse. (b) Obv. ۳۸ الہی بهمن Mr. Framji also possesses a Fulūs of this type (b) of the same year but of the month Dai. A second sub-variety (Fig. 5) is represented in my collection but again by only a single specimen. This coin differs but slightly from the normal type (a). The final ye of the word Ilahi in the reverse legend is now protruded instead of retracted, and the figures indicating the Ilahi year of issue are placed not to the right but to the left. Thus : Rev. (c) Obv. Same as (a) الہی ۳۸ ایان Two remarkable specimens of the Fulus are entered in the Indian Museum (Cal.) Catalogue. The obverse of each of the two is identical with that of A. III (a). The reverse, however, in one of the coins exhibits the two halves of the reverse of A. III (a) in inverted position, the normal upper half occupying the lower portion of this coin, and the normal lower In the second coin, the reverse half the upper portion. Thus which is only partially legible, is entered as... Both these coins are of so exceptional a character that a full account of them is much to be desired. 4 B.-THE TANKA. weight, 640 grains: diameter 11 inch. 320 •9 160 .7 80 امسر داد ۴۰ اله تنکه اکبر شاهر ضرب احمد آباد 99 "" The earliest known specimen of an Akbari tanka from the Aḥmadābād mint is dated the month Amardad of the Ilahi year 44, (Fig. 6). The tanka, in one or other of its denominations (large, small, small, small), issued from that mint during the next two years. Its legends read as follows:- 4 Obv. امرداد Rev. .65 The reverse inscription is thus, it will be seen, of a type identical with that on the special variety of Fulus denoted above as A. III (b). It may here be remarked that the sub-divisions, whether of the Fulūs or of the Tanka, are not expressed on the coins themselves. A Fulūs and similarly the Tanka, of any denomination, large or small, is styled simply a Fulūs or Tanka and is so inscribed. C.-THE TANKI OR TANKI. Chau Tanki: weight, 250 grains: diameter, 8 inch. -65 "" "" "" "" "" 7 Do 125 Yak 62 The year Ilahi 46 witnessed the last change that was to be made in Akbar's copper coinage at Aḥmadābād. From that year till the close of his reign the Tanki took the place of the Tanka (Fig. 7 and 8). The new coin was issued in three denominations, known as the Chau (or Four) Tanki, the Do (or Two), and the Yak (or One), and on each was inscribed its own special designation. With this exception the legend on J. 1. 14 1 the Tanki was the same as on the Tanka, the component words, however, being differently arranged. Thus : I. (a) Obv. اکبر شاه چو تانکے Two specimens of a Yak Tǎnki (not Tānki) are known, one in Mr. Wright's cabinet and the other in my own. These exhibit on the reverse a still further variation in the arrangement of the words. Thus (fig 9.) I. (b) Obv. اکبر شاهر یک تنکے Rev. The year of issue is probably 49, but on both the specimens the figures are almost entirely obliterated. In my collection are also two specimens of "mules," each dated Ilahi 44, Amardad, and bearing on both faces a legend identical with the normal reverse of a Tanka. Thus : Obv. and Rev. Rev. The weight of one is 634 grains, and of the other 317, whence we may infer that they are in fact a large Tanka and small Tanka spoiled by some misadventure in the process of minting.. The following list registers all the dated Akbari coins of Aḥmadābād known to me. It also includes those coins of the rarer denomina- . tions whose dates are wholly or partially illegible. فروز دین اله ۴۸ احمد اباد ضرب عم اللہ ہے امرداد N.B.-In this list the expression, say 45 (2, 3, 4, 7) indicates coins of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 7th months of the Ilahi year 45, that is to say, coins dated Ardibihisht, Khūrdād, Tir, and Mihr of Ilahi 45: and a like meaning, mutatis mutandis, attaches to all the other expressions having the same form. Thus xx (x); denotes a coin of an unknown month of an unknown (Ilahi) year. A. FULŪS. ال احمدآباد آذر ضرب ۴۹ Type II Type III (a).... Type III (b). Type III (c). Tanka Type I (a).... Do Tānki Yak Tanki Ilali 38 (8); ? 39 (4) 3x (11); ? 40 (12); ? 41 (6); C. TANKI. 46 (9); 47 (1); ? 48 (2); 48 (4, 7, 9 x) ; 49 (1, 46 (11); 47 (4); 4 x (10); 5 x (4); xx (1, 6, x). Type I (b). Yak Tănki: ? 49 (9). From this list it will be seen that within the limits of Akbar's reign the following periods are still unrepresented by any copper coin of Aḥmadābād : H. 989-993; * H. 996—Ilahi 38 (7); The coins as at present known may thus be roughly classified as follows. Deest R. Weight, 177 grains. Obv. De Fulūs III, a) or b) or c) De عالم گیر De t. Tānkī or Tănki I (a or b) Chau; Do; Yak. Denomination. 8 GEO. P. TAYLOR. * It should be borne in mind that in the year H. 991 coins were struck at Aḥmadābād, by the ex-Sultan, Muzaffar III, during the five months of his resumed sovereignty. 27. A New Mint of Aurangzeb. Whole Fulūs. S t. ; t. |