The Hindu : National : A special coin shines

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 14, 2007
ePaper

National

National

A special coin shines

Arunkumar Bhatt

— Photo: Vivek Bendre

Numismatist Dinesh Mody displaying the coin in Mumbai on Thursday.

MUMBAI: The Caliph of Baghdad excommunicated Mughal Emperor Jehangir and his successors for having issued coins bearing Jehangir’s portrait violating the tenets of Islam, so his son, Shah Jahan, minted a special gold coin weighing 100 ‘tola,’ or 1,166 gm, and presented it to the Caliph — who accepted an apology as well.

Today the coin, called ‘Shahenshah’, the only one that the Mughal had minted, is in the collection of numismatist Dinesh Mody, the chairman of Mumbai University’s numismatics museum.

A Hindu Minister, Amar Chand, advised Shah Jahan to make the coin bearing his full name and reiterating faith in Allah and present it to the Caliph through an emissary, says Dr. Dilip Rajgor, Director of the museum.

Mr. Mody said: “It was inherited by an Arab princess who brought it as dowry when she married the Nawab of Bahawalpur. Later, their daughter took it to London, from where it came to Mumbai.”

He would not say how much he paid for the coin or speculate about its present value. At today’s market price of gold, Rs. 10,250 per 10 gram, the ‘Shahenshah’ is worth over Rs. 12 lakh.

Mr. Mody comes from a family of numismatists. He said his uncle had left behind 11 drums, each containing about 50 kg of old coins. He added that he had studied and catalogued the entire collection.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National

News Update

Stories in this Section