Persia (Post-Mongol). Safavids. Tahmasp I, AH 930-984 / AD 1524-1576. Mithqal (?) (Gold, 21 mm, 4.65 g, 11 h), Tabriz, AH 930 = AD 1523/4. Central field within a square, in three lines: lā ilāha illā Allāh / Muḥammad rasūl Allāh / ʿAlī walī Allāh 930 (‘There is no deity but God / Muḥammad is the Messenger of God / ʿAlī is the friend of God’ in Arabic). Around, the names of the Twelve Imams. Rev. Central field within cartouche: ʿadl Tabrīz (‘Justice of Tabriz’ in Persian). Around: al-sulṭān al-ʿādil [al-kāmil] al-hādī Abū al-Muẓaffar Shāh Ṭahmāsp Bahādur Khān [al-Ṣafawī khallada Allāh] mulkahu [wa sulṭānahu] (‘The just, perfect, and rightly-guided sultan, Abū al-Muẓaffar Shāh Ṭahmāsp Bahādur Khān al-Ṣafavī, may God perpetuate his kingdom and sovereignty’ in Arabic). Album 2590. Very rare date. Minor marks and deposits, otherwise, very fine.



This important early gold issue was struck during the first regnal year of Shāh Ṭahmāsp I, one of the longest-reigning and most influential rulers of the Ṣafavid dynasty. Ascending the throne as a child following the death of Shāh Ismāʿīl I, Ṭahmāsp would ultimately consolidate Ṣafavid rule and play a decisive role in stabilizing the empire during a period of intense Ottoman and Uzbek pressure.

Coins dated AH 930 are especially significant as they belong to the earliest phase of Ṭahmāsp’s reign and were produced during the dynastic transition following the death of the dynasty’s founder. The inclusion of the Twelve Imams around the obverse reflects the firmly established Twelver Shiʿite identity of the Ṣafavid state, while the prominent use of the word ʿadl (‘justice’) continues a long-standing Persian and Islamic numismatic tradition associating righteous kingship with just rule.