Timurid rulers struck shahrukhi silver coins, Safavid shahs introduced the abbasi and shahi denominations with exquisite Nastaliq calligraphy and Shia inscriptions.
Shah Abbas I (1588–1629) gave his name to the abbasi (~7.7 g silver). The Safavid system: 1 toman = 200 shahi = 50 abbasi = 10,000 dinars (account unit).
Safavid coins typically bear the Shia kalima ('Ali wali Allah') and the names of the Twelve Imams on larger denominations.
Mints proliferated: Isfahan, Tabriz, Mashhad, Yazd, Qazvin, Ganja, Tiflis, Erivan, Hamadan.
Timur (Tamerlane)
ObverseCiting the Chagatai puppet khan Mahmud, in Kufic script.
ReverseMint and date in segmented panels.
Struck in Timur's name while nominally honouring the Chagatai khan — the silver tanka standard he established was inherited by his successors and later the Safavids.
Ulugh Beg
ObverseShia kalima and Twelve Imams in central panel.
ReverseRuler's titles in marginal segments, Herat mint and AH 852.
Ulugh Beg — astronomer-king and grandson of Timur — issued tankas continuing the high silver standard of his father Shah Rukh's shahrukhi.
Shah Suleiman I
ObverseShia kalima with Twelve Imams in marginal cartouches.
Reverse'Al-Sultan al-'Adil al-Hadi' with ruler's name, mint and date.
Heavy ceremonial multiple of the shahi denomination, struck at the Safavid capital. Continues the Shia-doctrinal coinage type first standardised by Shah Ismail I in 1501.
Shah Suleiman I (Safavid)
ObverseShia kalima.
ReverseShah's name and mint in calligraphic Nastaliq.
The denomination 'abbasi' was named after Shah Abbas I (1588–1629) and remained the standard Safavid silver trade coin across the Persian Gulf for over a century.
Sultan Husayn
ObverseTwelve Imams in segmented border.
ReverseRuler's titles in panel.
Last great Safavid issues before the Afghan siege of Isfahan (1722).
Baysunghur (Aq Qoyunlu)
ObverseShahada in central panel.
ReverseRuler's titles with mint and date.
The Aq Qoyunlu ('White Sheep' Turkmen) ruled western Iran from Tabriz before being overthrown by Shah Ismail I and the Safavids in 1501.
Shah Ismail I (founder)
ObverseShia kalima ('La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammad rasul Allah, Ali wali Allah') in central panel — the doctrinal manifesto that defined Safavid Iran.
ReverseNames of the Twelve Imams in marginal cartouches; ruler's titles and Tabriz mint signature.
First coinage of the Safavid empire from its founding capital. Shah Ismail's elevation of Twelver Shi'ism to state religion in 1501 was an act of historic religious transformation, and his coins are its first physical declaration.
Shah Tahmasp I
ObverseShia kalima with Twelve Imams.
ReverseTahmasp's titles with the prestigious 'Mashhad-i Muqaddas' (Holy Mashhad) mint signature, struck within the shrine precincts.
Tahmasp's 52-year reign stabilised the dynasty after his father's defeat at Chaldiran (1514). His Mashhad coinage, struck at the Shrine of Imam Reza, was a powerful Shia statement directed at the Sunni Ottoman and Uzbek neighbours.
Shah Abbas I
ObverseShia kalima with Twelve Imams.
ReverseAbbas's titles 'al-Sultan al-'Adil... Shah Abbas al-Husayni al-Musavi' and Mashhad mint name.
Shah Abbas built modern Iran — a centralised administration, the relocated capital at Isfahan, and a silk monopoly that drew European trading companies. The 'abbasi' silver coin (~7.7 g) bearing his name became the gold standard of Indian Ocean trade for two centuries.