Today's 2.1g coin of interest carries an unusual legend. The third line on the obverse, in confident thuluth script, runs the formula "khallada Allāhu mulkahā " : خَلَّدَ اللهُ مُلْكَهَا : "may God perpetuate her kingdom." The alif (ا) added at the end of the final word: ملكه becomes ملكها. The feminine suffix is not a mistake of the engraver. It is acknowledgment that the sovereign whose name fills the field - Sāti Beg Khān - is a woman. The coin was struck at Awnīk in 739 A

Today's coin of interest is a small provincial bronze with a portrait of Domitia wife of Domitian, pleasing green patina and a little dirt (literally and metaphorically). Suetonius was clearly not a big fan of Domitian - neither were the senators - when news of his death broke - Suetonius writes: "The senators on the contrary were so overjoyed, that they raced to fill the House, where they did not refrain from assailing the dead emperor with the most insulting and stinging ki

Silver Plaque with St. Paul Byzantine 550-600 CE. Public Domain Image with thanks to the NY MET. In the spring of 615 CE, in a Constantinople ringed by enemies, the imperial mint struck a coin that had no recent precedent. It was made of silver - a metal the city’s mint had largely abandoned for more than a century - and it carried, around the stepped cross on its reverse, a short Latin prayer that no Roman coin had ever borne before: dEUS AdIUtA ROmANIS ("God, help the Roman

The Deccan Plateau is the massive, elevated tableland that occupies the vast majority of the interior of the Indian peninsula. The word "Deccan" is an anglicized version of the Prakrit word dakkhin, which derives from the Sanskrit dakshina, meaning "south." Geologically, it is a staggering formation - a huge shield of ancient volcanic rock.Geologists call this region the Deccan Traps. It is one of the largest volcanic features on planet Earth.

Imagine a crisp, golden-fried pastry crescent, similar to a Karanji or Gujiya , filled with a decadent mixture of crushed nuts, sugar, and rare perfumes like musk, served hot from the Sultan's kitchen. Maybe I am just hungry today - we will eventually get to a coin. The Dough: Made from Rice flour and Ghee (for a melt-in-the-mouth texture). The Filling: A blend of Almond flour, Charoli nuts, roasted Chickpea flour, Sugar, and spices (Cardamom, Fennel, Musk). Then deep fri

Ahilyabai Holkar (1725–1795) is a luminous figure in Indian history, a "Philosopher Queen" who ruled the Maratha state of Indore with a rare blend of piety and administrative genius. Born in a village in Ahmednagar, she married into the powerful Holkar dynasty but faced early tragedy, losing her husband Khanderao in battle in 1754. Khanderao Holkar was inspecting his troops in an open palanquin when he was struck and killed by a cannonball fired from the Jat artillery during

In " A Journey Through the Kingdom of Oude, in 1849-1850 ", Sir William Henry Sleeman, describes the violent scene of July 8, 1837, in which the British put Muhammad Ali Shah on the throne in Awadh (Oudh). The previous King, Nasir-ud-Din Haidar, died just before midnight. The Queen Mother, Padshah Begum, immediately launched an attempt to put her ward or grandson, Munna Jan, on the throne, whom she claimed was the rightful heir. Colonel Low and British troops stormed the p

2nd/3rd Century CE relief showing a Kushan King (probably Huvishka) making a donation to Buddha (a Bodhisattva). Museo d'Arte Orientale, in the historic 18th-century seat of Palazzo Mazzonis, Torino, Italy Huvishka, the documented successor of Kanishka I, ruled for more than three decades. His reign is best reconstructed from inscriptions and an exceptionally rich coinage. What stands out from his reign is an imperial mint that deployed a broad pantheon on coins, a shift of m

Yazid I was the son of Mu'awiya , the second caliph of the Umayyads, and the sixth caliph overall. (Note: for a coin of Yazid's father...

It has been a long time since my last visit to the Cloisters in NY. It is an oasis of medieval history, strangely out of place on the northern end of Manhattan. The money of John D. Rockefeller, architecture of Charles Collens, and the medieval artifacts of sculptor, collector George Bernard create a unique setting. There is a romance of childhood stories of knights and kings and a contemplative setting of nature and a reconstructed monastery. Tapestries on the walls include

For many years I have admired the gold coins of the Kushan kings and finally decided it was time to move from admiring to owning. This...

British Trade Deficit and Opium Smuggling In the 18th century, British demand for Chinese tea, silk, and porcelain soared, but China...

Tipu's Tiger, an 18th-century automata with its keyboard visible. Victoria and Albert Museum, London . Public Domain image via Wikimedia...

Pigeon on a Peach Branch by Emperor Huizong Chinese coins are not an area where I have many coins to offer. Today's coin is from an...

In the late 15th century, the Timurid Empire was fragmenting, and Qunduz (modern Kunduz in northern Afghanistan) became the seat of an...

This coin struck me as curious - copying 4th century Roman style portraits in the 12th century. Al-Malik al-Ṣāliḥ, was the Zengid emir...

Saturnalia in Red: an AI generated abstract image evoking the spirit of Saturnalia. Saturnalia is December 17th. I was excited to open...

Gur-e-Amir - a mausoleum of the Asian conqueror Timur (also known as Tamerlane) in Samarkand, Uzbekistan ( Copyright: under license from...

By the mid-14th century, the Chaghatai Khanate, originally established by Chaghatai, the second son of Genghis Khan, had begun to fracture.

The arabic word مملوك or mamlūk means "owned" or "possessed". In the context of 13th century Islamic society, Mamlūks were usually ...