Indian (?) Coin with Persian Calligraphy Identification [solved]

Hey All,

Just received this, and I had trouble finding an exact match in the catalog. I do know that there are quite a few varieties of coins similar to this. Sold as a “SILVER RUPEE… NOT RESEARCHED.” Could anyone provide some insight?

I was primarily going off of the ‘sun’ or ‘flower’ symbol from the first photo. 

11.4 grams, 22-23mm in diameter (a little irregular), with some small divots or partially-bored holes in the surface (they don't go through the entire thickness, but there's one on either side in a different spot); neodymium magnet slides slowly down the surface, but I'm staying skeptical about silver content.

Let me know if there's anything else I can provide to aid in identification.

Thanks,

- SDM

I think I can make out a regnal year of 44 about 8 o'clock on the second photo, and a date of AH 1112 about 8 o'clock on the first photo. These do correspond with each other during the reign of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in India, so I would say this is an Aurangzeb silver rupee. Maybe another member will be able to help out with more details such as the mint. 

The divots are test marks, also known as shroff marks, where merchants punched the coin to make sure it wasn't just silver-plated. I'm not seeing anything to make me suspect it's not genuine. 

Thanks, Seeker!

With that lead, I did a brief search and did find this:

https://sarmaya.in/objects/numismatics/aurangazeb-silver/

It seems to match fairly closely mine, although there are a few details that vary. Although another example I found (https://coinindia.com/galleries-aurangzeb.html) also varied in some of the design details (shape of the flower, etc). Thus, I’d expect this is from the reign of Aurangzeb, but I’ll see if anyone else can provide confirmation on the mint.

Thank you also for the insight to the shroff marks; I’d suspected they were meant for something like that.

Thank you Seeker for the great information!

I'm clueless about this type of coinage but I tried anyway.

I found 2 similar coins at Zeno:

https://www.zeno.ru/showphoto.php?photo=311175 (with similar shroff marks)

https://www.zeno.ru/showphoto.php?photo=274786

I also share this different coin from the same mint and with the same inscriptions struck on a larger blank, which helps reading the inscriptions:

https://www.zeno.ru/showphoto.php?photo=175704

According to Zeno, the mint is “Akbarabad Mustaqir al-Khilafat”.

Akbarabad is (اکبرآباد with Nastaliq Urdu font), which looks similar be the top line of the reverse of the coins on Zeno and barely visible on you second picture because it is off-flan.

Akbarabad is an old name for Agra (the city of the Taj Mahal, built about 60 years before your coin was made), derived from the name of the third Mughal emperor Akbar I.

Mustaqir al-Khilafat is (مستقرُ الخِلافَت with Nastaliq Urdu font), visible on the middle line of your second picture. According to the Standard Catalog of World Coins, it means “abode of the caliphate” and it is a honorific epithet used for the mints of Akbarabad and Ajmer.

Here is the coin: N#50778