Square Gold Mohur of Akbar

A small square of gold, less than two centimetres a side, with Persian inscriptions in raised letters set in three bands. There is no picture on this face, only script, and the script is the decoration. The edges are slightly irregular, and some letters run off them.

The mohur, from the Persian muhr, a seal, was the gold coin of the Mughal system. Sher Shah Suri introduced it in the 1540s along with the silver rupiya and the copper dam, and the Mughals took over and standardised the three metals across their empire. A mohur was usually reckoned at about fifteen silver rupees.

This one was struck under Akbar, who ruled from 1556 to 1605, between 1578 and 1580. It is in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the gift of Anna Bing Arnold and Justin Dart.