2018-12-12 Wed

The greatest Sultan of Medieval period Ghiyath-Al-Din Balban ruled Delhi sultanate from 1266 to 1287 AD.

The coins of Balban and of his three predecessors do not differ much. He minted coins in all principal metals gold, silver, billon and copper. One side of these coins has the name and titles of the king and on the other the name of the Khalifah. Both sides of both Rupees and Mohurs had a margin, which contained the name of the mint and the year, in Arabic words. Balban was the last Sultan to use the horseman design on billion issues. Such coins are very rare and were soon replaced by a new, bilingual type, containing around 0.3 grams of silver.

The above-shown balban’s silver Tanka of 10.88g was minted at Khitta Nagor mint. The obverse of the coin is inscribed with Persian legend ‘al-Sultan al-'Azam Ghiyath al-Dunya wa al-Din Abu al-Muzaffar Balban al-Sultan’ mint-name partly visible in the margin. The reverse of the coin read as Arabic legend in the rectangle with annulets above and below ‘al-Imam al-Musta'asim Amir al-Mumineen; mint-name clearly visible in the margin as ba-Khitta Nagore.

Image Source: Classical Numismatic Gallery