Timurid rulers struck shahrukhi silver coins, Safavid shahs introduced the abbasi and shahi denominations with exquisite Nastaliq calligraphy and Shia inscriptions.
Timurid and Safavid coins are the silver and gold of Iran from about 1370 to 1736: Timurid tankas with elegant thuluth calligraphy, then the Safavid abbasi and its fractions, struck in flowing nastaliq with the Shi'a formula naming Ali and the Twelve Imams — the first explicitly Shi'a state coinage in Iranian history.
| Period | c. 1370–1736 CE |
|---|---|
| Timurid silver | Tanka, ~5.2 g, later reduced |
| Safavid silver | Abbasi ~7.7 g; mahmudi, shahi, bisti fractions |
| Safavid gold | Ashrafi, ceremonial rather than circulating |
| Script | Thuluth (Timurid), nastaliq (Safavid) |
| Key mints | Herat, Samarkand, Tabriz, Isfahan, Qazvin, Mashhad |
Timur (Tamerlane) and his successors struck silver tankas across an empire reaching from Anatolia to India. The coins are purely epigraphic and often strikingly beautiful: dense, architectural thuluth inscriptions inside square, hexafoil or cartouche frames that mirror the tilework of Timurid buildings.
Timur himself usually struck in the name of a puppet Chagatayid khan rather than his own, so the ruler's name on the coin is not always the man in power — a point that catches out new collectors. Herat, Samarkand and Baghdad are the mints most often seen.
Under Shah Rukh the coinage stabilises and the tanka becomes a reliable trade currency; later Timurid and Turkmen (Qara Qoyunlu, Aq Qoyunlu) issues carry it through to the Safavid takeover.
Shah Ismail I proclaimed Twelver Shi'ism the state religion in 1501, and his coinage says so. The obverse carries the kalima with the addition 'Ali wali Allah' (Ali is the friend of God), and the names of the Twelve Imams frequently ring the margin. No earlier Iranian coinage makes a sectarian statement this explicit.
Shah Abbas I standardised the silver abbasi at roughly 7.7 g, with the mahmudi (half), shahi (quarter) and bisti as fractions. The unit drifted lighter across the seventeenth century, and tracking that drift is how undated or worn Safavid silver is placed in a reign.
Gold ashrafis exist but were struck largely for gifts, coronations and Nowruz distributions rather than circulation, which is why they are scarce and usually found in high grade.
Safavid flans are broad and thin, and off-centre striking that cuts away part of the marginal legend is the norm, not a defect. Judge these coins on the legibility of the central legend, the mint name and the date rather than on flan completeness.
The script itself is a dating tool: Safavid nastaliq is unmistakable next to Timurid thuluth or the later, squarer Qajar hands. Dates are AH, given in numerals in the reverse field or margin.
Common mints include Isfahan, Tabriz, Qazvin, Mashhad, Kashan, Ganja and Tiflis. Caucasian mints are scarcer and worth checking for.
Safavid silver is one of the best value fields in Islamic numismatics: attractive, historically loaded, dated and mint-signed, and still inexpensive in collectable grade. A single-reign mint set of Abbas I abbasis is an achievable long-term project.
Timurid silver is scarcer and prices reflect calligraphic quality above all. For both series, prefer coins where the mint and date are fully on the flan — that single criterion drives most of the price difference between two otherwise similar pieces.
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.
Jahan Shah
ObverseShia kalima in central panel — an early formal Shia coinage from a Turkmen dynasty.
Reverse'al-Sultan al-A'zam Jahanshah' with mint and date.
The Qara Qoyunlu ('Black Sheep') Turkmen briefly ruled western Iran and Iraq, and were displaced by the Aq Qoyunlu in 1467. Jahan Shah is famous as builder of the Blue Mosque of Tabriz. Image: related Aq Qoyunlu Tabriz gold.