Lot No.258
AUC52
Sultanates
Auction Date: 15-08-2026
Gold
Bahmani Sultans of Gulbarga, gold dinar of Ala al-Din Mujahid Shah (1375-1378 AD), Hadrat Ahsanabad mint (fully visible), AH 778, G&G BH45 (listed as RRR), 12.75g. Obv: Arabic legend al-sultan al-a'zam zill allah fi'l 'alam [The Greatest Sultan, the Shadow of Allah in the World]. Rev: In circle, Arabic legend ala al-dunya wa'l din mujahid shah al -sultan [Exaltation of the World and the Faith, Sultan Mujahid Shah]; mint-name and date in margin reads as duriba hadha al-dinar fi Hadrat Ahsanabad thaman wa saba'in wa saba'mi'ah [This dinar was struck at Hadrat Ahsanabad in the year 778 AH].
A centrally struck, well-preserved specimen with sharply rendered details and full legends visible in the margins, offering tremendous eye appeal.
Extremely fine, Exceptionally rare.
Notably, only two other examples were found in the sales archives to date, highlighting its exceptional rarity.
This presents an excellent opportunity for advanced collectors to add this seldom-seen specimen to their collections.
Ala al-Din Mujahid Shah ascended the Bahmani throne in AH 777 (AD 1375) following the death of his father, Sultan Muhammad Shah I. Soon after his accession, he led a major campaign against the Vijayanagar Empire under Bukka Raya I in an attempt to secure the strategically important Raichur Doab, the fertile and strategically important tract between the Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers. Although the campaign proved unsuccessful, it exemplified the enduring rivalry between the Bahmani and Vijayanagara kingdoms. Mujahid Shah was assassinated by his cousin Da'ud Khan during his return journey, bringing his reign of scarcely a year to an abrupt end. Gold dinars struck at Hadrat Ahsanabad belong to this short-lived reign and represent an important numismatic record of one of the earliest successions in Bahmani history.
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