Item number: A3552

Year: AD 1843 (AH 1259)

Material: Copper

Size: 19.7 x 15.2 x 2.2 mm

Weight: 3.8 g

Manufactured by: Samarkand

Provenance: Stephen Album Rare Coins 2025

This is a copper pūl coin minted in AD 1843 by the Emirate of Bukhara, a polity established in Central Asia. For most of its existence, one tilla (gold coin) was equivalent to 24 to 28 tenga (silver coins), and one tenga equalled 10 fals or pūl (copper coins).

The inscriptions on the coin are written in Persian using the Nastaʿlīq script. On the obverse, the upper inscription is incomplete, but based on the surviving letter forms, it may have read “امیر” (Amir), meaning “Emir” in Persian, a title borne by rulers in several Muslim states, and in this polity specifically denoting the sovereign. The central inscription appears to be “سيد” (Sayyid), originally referring to male descendants of the Prophet Muhammad and later functioning as an honorific. The lower inscription reads “١۲٥٩”, corresponding to the Hijrī year 1259, which marks the issue date as AD 1843. The coin is further decorated with concentric lines composed of petal-shaped geometric patterns, surrounded by a continuous series of diagonal cross motifs.

The reverse bears the inscription “ضرب” (zarb) in the lower section, meaning “struck by” or “minted in”. The upper inscription is incomplete, but the visible traces suggest it may have read “سمرقند” (Samarqand), indicating the city of Samarkand. Similar to the obverse, the surrounding decoration consists of concentric petal-shaped patterns, encircled by continuous diagonal cross designs.

The term fals derives from the Roman follis, a large bronze coin that was originally sometimes coated with silver. Over time, the follis depreciated in value. Transmitted via the Byzantine Empire into the Islamic Caliphate, it became the fals, generally a small-denomination copper coin. Across different regions, variant names appeared, including fils, falus, and pūl.

The Emirate of Bukhara was founded in AD 1785 when Shah Murad, a strongman of the Manghit tribe of Turkic origin, deposed the Astrakhanid dynasty, whose lineage traced back to Chinggis Khan, and established his own dynasty with Bukhara as the capital. As he did not belong to the Mongol Golden Lineage, Shah Murad could not assume the title of Khan and was limited to the designation Emir. From this point, the polity was reconstituted as the Emirate of Bukhara.

Nasrullah Khan ruled from AD 1827 to 1860. He ascended the throne after besieging Bukhara and defeating his brother, the previous emir ʿUmar ibn Haydar. In order to consolidate power, he actively sought the support of the religious and military elites of Bukhara, Samarkand, and other cities. To enhance his legitimacy, he alternated among a range of titles, including “Emir”, “Khan” (traditionally reserved for descendants of Chinggis Khan), “Amir al-Muʾminīn” (“Commander of the Faithful”, originally the title of the caliphs and later borne by religious leaders), and “Sayyid”. His reign coincided with the encroachments of Britain and Russia during the “Great Game”. In Western sources, he is remembered for his cruelty, most notably his order in AD 1842 to execute two British envoys. During his rule he engaged in commerce with both the Russian Empire and British India, attempted to create a modernised army, and sought territorial expansion by intervening in the Kokand Khanate, launching a campaign into Afghanistan, and clashing repeatedly with the Khwarazm (Khiva) Khanate, with alternating victories and defeats.

By the mid-nineteenth century, however, the Emirate was unable to withstand Russian expansion into Central Asia. In AD 1868, after a series of defeats, it became a Russian protectorate. From the 1890s, the Russian authorities in Turkestan progressively suppressed local coinage, replacing it with the Russian rouble, primarily in paper form. The circulation of the Bukhara tenga contracted sharply. Compounding this, the adoption of the gold standard by major industrial powers in the 1870s caused a decline in the value of silver. Together, these factors produced a monetary and financial crisis in Bukhara. Russia exploited the situation by prohibiting the minting of Bukhara’s silver tenga. During the First World War, Russia’s financial disarray, combined with the dominance of the rouble, caused further instability in Bukhara’s monetary system, reflected in erratic fluctuations in denominations, metal content, and weight of its coinage.

In AD 1917, amidst the upheaval of the Russian October Revolution, the Emirate of Bukhara briefly regained independence. Yet in AD 1920, under the assault of the Soviet Red Army, the last emir, Muhammad Alim Khan, fled into neighbouring Afghanistan, bringing about the collapse of the Emirate. The newly established Bukharan People’s Soviet Republic adopted Soviet paper currency as the principal medium of exchange, though until as late as 1925, metal coinage from across Central Asia continued to circulate widely in Bukhara and was even accepted for tax payments.

物件編號: A3552

年代: 公元 1843 年 (回曆 1259 年)

材質: 紅銅

尺寸: 19.7 x 15.2 x 2.2 mm

重量: 3.8 g

製造地: 撒馬爾罕

來源: 史蒂芬稀有錢幣專輯 2025

這是一枚公元1843年，立國於中亞的布哈拉酋長國鑄造之普爾銅幣。在大多數時間，1金提拉(tilla)等於24至28銀堅戈(tenga)，1銀堅戈等於10法爾(falus)或普爾(pul)。

錢幣錢文為以波斯體書寫的波斯文。錢幣正面上方幣銘不全，但依剩餘字型推測，可能為「امیر」(Amir)，即波斯文「埃米爾」，為一些穆斯林國家領導人稱號之一，若在酋長國中，則專指國家元首。中間文字應為「سيد」，即「賽義德」，原指穆罕默德男性血裔，後為一種尊稱。下方幣銘應為「١۲٥٩」，為回曆紀年「1259」，標示發行年為公元1843年。幣銘周圍有花瓣狀幾何圖形構成的同心線條，其外有連續斜十字紋飾。

錢幣背面下方幣銘為「ضرب」(zarb)，意即「由…鑄造」。上方幣銘不全，但依字形推測，可能為「سمرقند」(samarqand)，即「撒馬爾罕」。與正面紋飾相同，幣銘周圍有花瓣狀幾何圖形構成的同心線條，其外有連續斜十字紋飾。

「法爾」(fals)則源自羅馬帝國的貨幣「福利斯」(follis)，原為大面額銅幣，最初甚至有包銀。隨後逐漸貶值。後經東羅馬帝國傳入阿拉伯帝國，成為「法爾」(fals)，通常為小面額銅幣。在不同國家，可能還有「費爾」(fils)、「法盧斯」(falus)、「普爾」(pūl)等變體幣名。

布哈拉酋長國是公元1785年，出身突厥部落的曼吉特部強人：沙阿·穆拉德罷黜血統能上溯至成吉思汗的阿斯特拉罕王朝後，以布哈拉為首都建國。由於並非出身於蒙古黃金家族，沙阿·穆拉德不得自稱為可汗，僅能擁有埃米爾的頭銜。自此布哈拉汗國改制為布哈拉酋長國。

納斯魯拉汗(Nasrullah Khan)，自公元1827年至1860年在位。在兵圍布哈拉，最終擊敗其兄長，前任埃米爾奧馬爾·本·海達爾後繼位，為鞏固權力，積極爭取布哈拉、撒馬爾罕等地宗教與軍事菁英的支持。為增加正統性，交替使用「埃米爾」、「汗王」(Khan，成吉思汗後裔所用尊號)、「信士的長官」(Amir al-Mu’minin，初為哈里發稱號，後為宗教領袖沿用)、「賽義德」(Sayyed)等頭銜與稱號。甫上位便要面對英、俄兩國在「大博奕」中威凌中亞的政局。他在西方史料中以殘酷著稱，因其在公元1842年下令處決英國外交官。其在任期間與俄羅斯帝國、英屬印度帝國積極通商，嘗試建立一支現代化的軍隊。並以此嘗試對外擴張，其任內干涉浩罕汗國，遠征阿富汗王國，並與花拉子模汗國(希瓦汗國)互有勝敗。

不過進入公元19世紀中葉，面對沙俄對中亞地區的步步擴張。先是在公元1868年，布哈拉酋長國在多次兵敗後，淪為沙俄的保護國。公元1890年代起，沙俄逐漸在突厥斯坦總督區廢止當地的貨幣，改行用以紙鈔為主的俄羅斯盧布。原本廣泛流通的布哈拉堅戈，流通範圍驟減。加以公元1870年代起，世界各主要工業國採行金本位制，白銀價格下跌。二者共同造成了布哈拉的貨幣金融危機，沙俄也借此干涉，禁止了布哈拉銀堅戈的製造。第一次世界大戰期間，俄羅斯帝國的金融混亂也因盧布的強勢影響而使布哈拉幣制動盪，反映到錢幣上便是面額大小、幣材與重量的波動與混亂。公元1917年，利用沙俄十月革命的混亂之際，布哈拉酋長國短暫恢復獨立。但在公元1920年，面對蘇聯紅軍的攻勢，末代埃米爾：穆罕默德·阿利姆汗流亡至鄰國阿富汗，宣告布哈拉酋長國的覆滅。新建的布哈拉人民蘇維埃國以蘇聯紙幣為主要流通貨幣，但截至1925年，中亞各國的金屬貨幣仍在布哈拉廣泛流通，甚至可用於納稅。