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History has a very unkind habit of repeating itself and often in settings vastly different than the original one albeit in the same fashion. A particular Iranian coin from my collection amazed me at its similarity to archetypal Roman coins with the bust of the Roman Emperor surrounded by Roman legends found scattered all over the world known to Romans; except the script was Persian (with a Persian Pa in the upper line clinching it in favour of Persian as it’s absent in Arabic script and language) and its reverse showed the image of an imposing Lion brandishing a sword standing in front of resplendent Sun!
Intrigued by the initial findings, I relied on my magnifying glass to tell the rest of the story. The coin’s obverse had the side profile of an Iranian ruler as well etched as a Roman Emperor’s with the legend in the upper line reading:
‘Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi Arya Mihr Shahanshah-i-Iran’
Intrigued by the initial findings, I relied on my magnifying glass to tell the rest of the story. The coin’s obverse had the side profile of an Iranian ruler as well etched as a Roman Emperor’s with the legend in the upper line reading:
‘Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi Arya Mihr Shahanshah-i-Iran’
The regnal titles translate as ‘The Light of the Aryans the King-of-Kings (a very old Persian title from its Sassanid era)
The lower line gave the date ‘2536’ which does not translate into any meaningful Islamic date; however crosschecking with my Persian teacher, an Iranian expatriate, I discovered that Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (r. A.D. 1941-1979) initiated a new Imperial Calendar in 1976, using the birth of ancient Persian Emperor Cyrus as the first day, replacing the Hijri era of Prophet Muhammad. Hence as far as coinage is concerned, the numeral year leaped by almost a millennium from 1355 A.H. to 2535. Thus, the date ‘2536’ on my coin signaled that it was dated in the Imperial Era of Iran and its date in Christian era was 1977.
The reverse of Muhammad Reza Shah’s coins show the image of an Asiatic Lion holding a sword with the Sun in the background. The amazing part of this regnal symbol is that it was also employed in medieval India by Mughal Emperor Nur-ud-din Jahangir (r.1605-1627) (You can check the image on British Museum’s website at the following link http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_image.aspx?image=k102920.jpg&retpage=17384
The Lion with the Sun represents two unmistakable symbols of power and the Sun (Mihr/Miiro or Khursheed) has been a revered natural deity of the Persian people thus lending the Shah of Iran a distinct temporal power over his people. We are all aware of the Lion’s share from Aesop’s Fables which is why kingship is often represented by a Lion.
The coin shows the Shah’s crown placed above these two powerful symbols implying the Shah’s omnipotent power over his people; the Shah’s assumption of such supreme power brought him into direct conflict with the Islamic clergy of Iran which bid their time till the final ushering in of an Islamic revolution in 1979.
The coin’s denomination is '20 Riyal' is generally a written denomination since a more popular unit of account called 'Toman' (equal to 10 Riyal) is more preferred in day-to-day transactions in Iran. In this context, a letter from John Horne, the Governor of Bombay to Nadir Shah* in 1738 at the Maharashtra State Archives speaks of British losses to the tune of 12000 Tomans due to extortion by Nadir Shah's officials in Teheran. The modern Riyal is said to contain 100 Dinars as sub-units but the low value of Riyal itself conceals this sub-unit.
According to Iranian expatriates, although the value of goods in a market are officially expressed in Riyals, the vocal transaction is always in Tomans!
This single coin from pre-Islamic Revolution Iran tells us the story of a bygone era in the history of an ancient nation which is increasingly wiping off all traces of its rich past in the garb of misguided Puritanism.
The lower line gave the date ‘2536’ which does not translate into any meaningful Islamic date; however crosschecking with my Persian teacher, an Iranian expatriate, I discovered that Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (r. A.D. 1941-1979) initiated a new Imperial Calendar in 1976, using the birth of ancient Persian Emperor Cyrus as the first day, replacing the Hijri era of Prophet Muhammad. Hence as far as coinage is concerned, the numeral year leaped by almost a millennium from 1355 A.H. to 2535. Thus, the date ‘2536’ on my coin signaled that it was dated in the Imperial Era of Iran and its date in Christian era was 1977.
The reverse of Muhammad Reza Shah’s coins show the image of an Asiatic Lion holding a sword with the Sun in the background. The amazing part of this regnal symbol is that it was also employed in medieval India by Mughal Emperor Nur-ud-din Jahangir (r.1605-1627) (You can check the image on British Museum’s website at the following link http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_image.aspx?image=k102920.jpg&retpage=17384
The Lion with the Sun represents two unmistakable symbols of power and the Sun (Mihr/Miiro or Khursheed) has been a revered natural deity of the Persian people thus lending the Shah of Iran a distinct temporal power over his people. We are all aware of the Lion’s share from Aesop’s Fables which is why kingship is often represented by a Lion.
The coin shows the Shah’s crown placed above these two powerful symbols implying the Shah’s omnipotent power over his people; the Shah’s assumption of such supreme power brought him into direct conflict with the Islamic clergy of Iran which bid their time till the final ushering in of an Islamic revolution in 1979.
The coin’s denomination is '20 Riyal' is generally a written denomination since a more popular unit of account called 'Toman' (equal to 10 Riyal) is more preferred in day-to-day transactions in Iran. In this context, a letter from John Horne, the Governor of Bombay to Nadir Shah* in 1738 at the Maharashtra State Archives speaks of British losses to the tune of 12000 Tomans due to extortion by Nadir Shah's officials in Teheran. The modern Riyal is said to contain 100 Dinars as sub-units but the low value of Riyal itself conceals this sub-unit.
According to Iranian expatriates, although the value of goods in a market are officially expressed in Riyals, the vocal transaction is always in Tomans!
This single coin from pre-Islamic Revolution Iran tells us the story of a bygone era in the history of an ancient nation which is increasingly wiping off all traces of its rich past in the garb of misguided Puritanism.
* The Persian invader who devastated Delhi under Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah 'Rangeela' in 1739 and extracted the Kohinoor and Shahjahan's Peacock Throne along with 14 crore rupees as booty!
I have this coin and I want to sell this coin can you tell me the amount in Indian rupees
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