2018-06-07 Thu

Ala al-Din Husain Shah was an independent late medieval Sultan of Bengal, who founded the Hussain Shahi dynasty. He became the ruler of Bengal after assassinating the Abyssinian Sultan, Shams-ud-Din Muzaffar Shah, whom he had served under as Wazir. He was elected as the Sultan by the leading nobles in 1494 AD.

Ala-Al Din Hussain Shah issued coins in all three metals gold, silver and copper. His coins come in three main categories:

I) Coins issued with Shahada on the reverse and ordinary legends on the obverse.
II) Victory Coins.
III) Coins in which he issued with the ruler's name spread on both sides.
In victory coins category there are four types:

I) The shahada is written on the reverse and commemorates victories over Kamrup and Kamta is written on the obverse.
II) In second type the legend name is spread on both the sides without Shahada.
III) The third type is similar to the first type with the Jajnagar added to it.
IV) The fourth type adds Orissa to it.
This very rare gold tanka was issued by from the mint Fathabad was sold for INR 90,000 in Classical Numismatic Gallery Auction. The obverse of this coin is inscribed as ‘Al-Sultan Al-Fath Al-Kamru Wa Kamta Wa Jajnagar Wa Urissa Ala Al-Dunya Wa’l Din Abul Muzaffar’. The reverse of the coin is inscribed as ‘Husain Shah Al-Sultan Bin Sayyid Ashraf Al-Hussaini Khallada Allah Mulkahu Wa Sultanahu.

Image Courtesy: Classical Numismatic Auction