2017-10-12 Thu

Ahmadnagar is amongst the five successor States of the Bahmani Sultanate in the Deccan during the medieval period. The State was located in northwestern Deccan between Gujarat and Bijapur.

Burhan Nizam Shah II ruled Ahmadnagar from 1591 till 1595 CE. In his short reign, he issued plenty of coins. During the beginning of his reign, Ahmadnagar was the main mint of his coinage which later on it shifted to Burhanabad. He had issued coins in gold and copper. The gold coins issued by him are inscribed with king’s legends on the obverse and Shi’a shahada on the reverse. Gold and copper coins issued by him have the mint name ‘Burhanabad’ inscribed on it. The only exception is the small rare coins which were struck at ‘Murtadabad’.

This rare gold pagoda which was struck at ‘Burhanabad’ weighs around 3.4 g and was sold for INR 22,000 by Todywalla Auction. The obverse of the coin depicts a legend ‘Zarb Burhanabad’ within a circular border where the king’s legend is inscribed in the margin. The reverse of the coin depicts Shi’a Shahada legend with AH date 1001 at the bottom.