Tool

Compare two coins

Choose any two pieces from the archive — Daric vs Siglos, Sasanian drachm vs Umayyad dirham, Qajar toman vs Pahlavi gold — to see weight, metal, mint and iconography side by side.

Coin A

Coin B

Choose a coin to compare.

Weight standards across dynasties

Persian and Iranian coinage used several distinct weight standards over 2,600 years. This table gives the nominal target weight of the principal silver (and one gold) unit under each system; actual surviving specimens vary by a few percent due to minting tolerance and wear.

Standard	Unit	Nominal weight	Period / issuer
Persic (siglos)	Siglos	~5.6 g	Achaemenid Empire, satrapal silver
Attic	Tetradrachm / drachm	17.2 g / 4.3 g	Seleucid Persia, early Parthia
Parthian drachm	Drachm	~4.0 g	Arsacid Parthian Empire
Sasanian drachm	Drachm	3.9–4.2 g	Sasanian Empire, 224–651 CE
Islamic dirham (post-696 reform)	Dirham	~2.97 g	Umayyad reform onward, most Islamic dynasties
Safavid abbasi	Abbasi	~7.7 g	Safavid dynasty, 16th–18th c.
Qajar qiran	Qiran	~4.6 g	Qajar dynasty, 19th–early 20th c.

Purity of gold coinage

Gold fineness — the proportion of pure gold in the alloy — is one of the clearest markers of monetary confidence. The table below gives typical attested fineness for the principal Persian and Iranian gold coins.

Coin	Weight	Typical fineness	Issuer
Daric	~8.4 g	~95.8% (23k)	Achaemenid Empire
Islamic dinar	~4.25 g	~97–98%	Umayyad reform onward
Safavid ashrafi	~3.5 g	~95–97%	Safavid dynasty
Qajar toman	~2.9 g (varies)	~90%	Qajar dynasty
Pahlavi gold coin	7.32 g	90% (21.6k)	Pahlavi dynasty, 1930s–1970s

How to read a Persian coin legend

Most Persian and Islamic-period coin legends follow a predictable structure once you know what to look for. Read the obverse (principal side) first: the central field usually names the issuing authority — a king's regnal title in Pahlavi script on Sasanian silver, or the Islamic profession of faith (the kalima) on Islamic-period coins. A surrounding marginal legend, read continuing around the rim, typically supplies the ruler's name and honorific titles on Islamic coins, or the mint and regnal year on Sasanian coins written vertically in the margin at three or nine o'clock. The reverse legend on Islamic coins usually names the overlord (caliph, or later, the reigning shah) and sometimes the heir apparent; on Sasanian coins the reverse simply repeats mint abbreviation and date beside the fire altar. Dates are given in different calendar eras depending on period — Seleucid Era on Parthian issues, Yazdgerd Era on late Sasanian coins, Hijri (lunar) on most Islamic coins, and Solar Hijri on Pahlavi and Islamic Republic issues — so the same numeral shape can mean different years depending on which era the mint used.