TIMUR (or Tamerlane) is it???

[Topcat7]

This silver coin was represented to me as Timur (or Tamerlane) from 1370.

I have no knowledge in this area at all, so my question is, "was it correctly represented or not?"

 

Edited June 24, 2023 by Topcat7

[JeandAcre]

Nope, @Topcat7, this is totally out of my league.  But I sure hope so!

[Bailathacl]

Always a challenge when dabbling inIslamic Dynasties coins!!  Wish I could help.  
 

You might find something similar if you slog through the various Tamerlane coins on Zeno.ru however. 

[John Conduitt]

I think your images are upside down.

[Topcat7]

18 minutes ago, Bailathacl said:

Always a challenge when dabbling inIslamic Dynasties coins!!  Wish I could help.  
 

You might find something similar if you slog through the various Tamerlane coins on Zeno.ru however. 

@Bailathacl  I have done as you suggested and as a result I believe that this coin is not from the time of Tamerlane but from the time of his son Shah Rukh I.

[Topcat7]

3 minutes ago, John Conduitt said:

I think your images are upside down.

@John Conduitt  You may well be right. I have tried checking with some reference material but I received little help there as their photographs are 'all over the shop'. It would undoubtedly help if I could read Islamic characters.

[John Conduitt]

5 minutes ago, Topcat7 said:

@John Conduitt  You may well be right. I have tried checking with some reference material but I received little help there as their photographs are 'all over the shop'. It would undoubtedly help if I could read Islamic characters.

The text on these is probably very similar from ruler to ruler. The first image has the mint on it, I think, as it says ‘struck in’ at the top. So the ruler is likely on the other side, although it might not be as it looks like the kalima.

Edited June 24, 2023 by John Conduitt

[DLTcoins]

Timurids, yes, but not Timur himself. Rather it's his son Shahrukh, 1405-1447, AR tanka, Yazd mint, dated AH 830(?). Album 2405.

The first image, if rotated 180°, reads: "struck at Yazd / the sultan the very great / Shahrukh Bahadur may Allah preserve / his kingdom and his sultanate / year [8]3x.

The date is very weak. Only the 3 is visible but 830 is likely.

The reverse is the Sunni Kalima within the central square; the names of the four Rashidun caliphs in the surrounding petals.

Edited June 24, 2023 by DLTcoins

[Topcat7]

@DLTcoins  I have posted an image of the first coin rotated 180 degrees (thank you). Your comments are much appreciated. I think I should stay clear of here. I read some posts about Tamerlane, recently, and he wasn't a nice fellow (by all reports), so I thought I would get one of his. Maybe not.

The seller will refund.

Edited June 24, 2023 by Topcat7

[Severus Alexander]

I managed to get a coin that covers both Timur (Tamerlane) and his son Shah Rukh... the undertype is a Timur tanka dated AH 800 (Shiraz mint, A2386), and the countermark is Shah Rukh:

Timur himself, of course, wasn't really a 2-birds-with-one-stone kinda guy. More like 100,000 birds with a million arrows...

[ominus1]

2 hours ago, John Conduitt said:

I think your images are upside down.

...ahaha.....><..don't feel too bad Topcat...i did that same thing on one of my Islamic coin pics   ^^

[Hrefn]

I am resurrecting this post because I won a coin attributed by the auction house, Aquila Numismatics, to Timur.  The coin weighs 6 grams.  One side has the inscription framed by a doubled banded heptagon, or possibly an octagon, with concave edges.  The other side has what I believe to be the Kalima in square Kufic script, surrounded by a beaded boarder.  Sorry about the slightly green tint.  The coin itself is silver and probably a tanka.  

My only reference for the period is Mitchiner’s The World of Islam, published in 1977.   I haven’t found an exact match for my coin, although the design is similar to tankas of Timur’s successor Shah Rukh, especially the square Kalima.  They are similar enough to suggest we are in the general area, though.  Here they are in Mitchiner:

The auction house description of my coin reads ”TIMURID: Timur, 1370-1405, AR tanka Halab, DM, A-2386D, same style as the Timurid tankas struck in Dimashq in AH803; this is first known Timurid tanka of the mint at Halab (Aleppo), conquered and heavily destroyed by Timur at the end of October 1400 (Rabi' | 803), attractive VF, RRRR. The Timurid forces entered Halab on 30 October 1400 and massacred much of the population. The mint at Aleppo was closed and only reopened about 814/815. A few weeks later, Dimashq surrendered without opposition and produced silver tankas and double tankas in the name of Timur dated AH803. The Timurid forces abandoned Syria later in 803, and ordinary Mamluk coinage in the name of Faraj resumed at Dimashq by AH804. In our estimate, there are about 10 to 15 examples known of the Timurid tankas Dimashq but only this one piece for Halab. 6,01g. 24,1mm.”

By a strange coincidence, Steve Album recently auctioned a coin with an identical auction description.  The coin is similar but not identical.  Here it is from ACSearch;  the reverse is rotated as compared with my coin above:  (Not my coin)

This is clearly not the same type as mine.    Unfortunate.  As this coin hammered for $2600.

Continued perusal of Timurid tankas on ACSearch yielded this:  (not my coin)

The three annulets or circles in the center of the obverse inscription seem to me to be common on coins issued by Timur.  I cannot convince myself that my coin shares these.   This coin has no dotted boarder around the Kalima.  And, the heptagon (octagon?) is a close but only approximate match with significant differences.  This coin is attributed to the city of Shaik Abu Ishaq, also Kaserun.  

The imperfect strikes on both coins, and my extremely rudimentary Arabic are preventing me from going further.  Any assistance would be gratefully appreciated.  

 

 

[PeteB]

The name Tamerlane comes from Timur-i-Leng — a Turkic nickname meaning ‘Timur the Lame’

[DLTcoins]

@Hrefn It's a tanka of Timur, citing his Chaghatayid overlord Mahmud Khan. "Amir Timur" (امير تيمور) is legible in the lower right corner. I don't see a mint or date (obverse margin) but some coins at Zeno with a similar obverse style are attributed to Herat. It's clearly not the rare Halab type advertised. The three annulets you mention are the tamgha of Timur. When you see them, you know you probably have Timur but their absence doesn't denote anything in particular.

Edited February 16 by DLTcoins

[Hrefn]

@DLTcoins many thanks.  I am happy the coin is of Timur.  It was an impulse buy in an area of collecting which was mostly unknown to me.  Money well spent as my winning bid was only 8 euros.