Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T16:38:57.891Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Changing the Mintmaster: The Introduction of Mechanized Minting in Qajar Iran*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 June 2011

Rudi Matthee
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In examining the process of modernization in Qajar Iran, modern scholarship has tended to focus either on the effects of Western exposure on Iranian intellectuals and educators, or on bureaucratic and military reforms initiated by the three major reformers of the nineteenth century, ‘Abbas Mirza, Mirza Taqi Khan (Amir Kabir), and Mirza Husayn Khan (Sipahsalar). This paper will address a different and equally important aspect of the modernization process, technological innovation, by discussing the introduction of mechanized coin production in Qajar Iran in the context of the country's prevailing social, political and economic structure.

Type
Transfer of Science and Technology
Information
Itinerario , Volume 19 , Issue 3 , November 1995 , pp. 109 - 129
Copyright
Copyright © Research Institute for History, Leiden University 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Notes

1 Book-length examples of this focus are Adamiyat, Firaydun, Amir Kabir va Iran (third ed.; Tehran 1969)Google Scholar; idem, Andishah-i laraqqi va hukumal-i qanun-i ‘asr-t sipahsalar (Tehran 1972)Google Scholar; Algar, Hamid, Mirza Malkum Khan: A Biographical Study in Iranian Modernism (Berkeley 1973)Google Scholar; Bakhash, Shaul, Iran: Bureaucracy & Reform under the Qajars: 1858–1896 (London 1978)Google Scholar; Nashat, Guity, The Origins of Modern Reform in Iran, 1870410 (Urbana IL 1982)Google Scholar; and Pistor-Hatam, Anja, Iran und die Reformbewegung im Osmanischen Reich: Persische Staatsmanner, Reisende und Oppositionelle unter dan Einfluss der Tanzimdt (Berlin 1992)Google Scholar.

2 Sahillioglu, Halil, ‘The Introduction of Machinery in the Ottoman Mint’ in: Ihsanoglu, Ekmeleddin ed., Transfer of Modem Science & Technology to the Muslim World (Istanbul 1992) 261–281Google Scholar.

3 Anon. [Ernst, C. van], ‘Reformen auf dem Gebiete des Post- und Munzwesen in Persien’, Osterreichische Monatschrift fur den Orient 1 (1875) 107Google Scholar.

4 Ibid.

5 Britdebank, William, Persia During the Famine: A Narrative of a Tour in the East and of the Journey Out and Home (London 1873) 143Google Scholar.

6 Floyer, Ernest Ayscoghe, Unexplored Baluchistan (London 1882) 323.Google Scholar The number of coins struck per minute in this manner might seem high beyond believability. Floyer's observation, however, gains in credibility when compared with a mid-nineteenth-century report from the town of Nimak in Nordi-West province in India which claims that hand-striking yielded forty rupees per minute. See Rai, Jyoti, ‘Unidentified Sikh Mints: Proof of the Existence of the Mint at Nimak’, Oriental Numismatic Society Newsletter 143 (1995) 15.Google Scholar For a description of the mint of Bombay in the late 1700s, see Viccajee, F.K., Notes on the Hand Minting of Coins of India (Bombay 1912) 20–22.Google Scholar Thanks to Michael Bates for bringing these two sources to my attention.

7 SeeAdamiyat, , A mix Kabir, 170Google Scholar.

8 I would like to thank Dr Lutz Ilisch for pointing this out to me and for showing me a number of examples in the collection of the Forschungsstelle fur Islamische Numismatik am Orientalischen Seminar, Tübingen.

9 See, for instance, no.743/1896 in the Munzkabinett, Bode Museum, Berlin.

10 [Ernst, Van], ‘Reformen’, 107.Google Scholar One eyewitness noted of the mint of Barfurush (modern Amul, Tabaristan on the coins) that in 1860 the panahabad struck at the mint was found to be too light and forbidden, thus implying some central control over minting standards. See Melgunof, G., Das südliche Uferdes kaspischen Meeres oder die Nordprovinzen Persiens (trans, from die Russian; Leipzig 1868) 187.Google Scholar The same author gives a description of this local mint diat, while differing from that given by Floyer for the mint of Kerman, evokes the same premodern image.

11 Simmons, S., ‘The Evolution of Persia's Monetary System between Safavid Power's Consolidation in 1502 and the Employing of Belgian Mint Management Experts in 1901’ (Ph.D dissertation, University of Cambridge; 1977) 107–109Google Scholar.

12 Watson (camp near Tehran) to Alison (London) 5July 1864, Public Record Office-London (PRO), FO 248/218; and Mounsey, Augustus M., A Journey through the Caucasus and the Interior of Persia (London 1872) 321.Google Scholar Stephen Album tells me that clipped or rubbed Qajar gold coins are rarely seen in the present numismatic trade, save for speci-mens which had been mounted in jewelry.

13 Ernst, C. van, ‘Zur Munzreform in Persien’, Österreichische Monalschrift für den Orient 4 (1878) 106Google Scholar.

14 Brugsch, Heinrich, Reise der k. preussischen Cesandtschaft nach Persien, 1860 und 1861 (Leipzig 1862) 330ff.Google Scholar; and Eastwick, Edward, Journal of a Diplomat's Three Yean’ Residence in Persia I (London 1864) 288ffGoogle Scholar.

15 ‘Report by Keith Abbott on the Trade and Commerce of Tabreez for the Year 1866’ in: Amanat, Abbas ed., Cities and Trade: Consul Abbott on the Economy and Society of Iran 1847–1866 (London 1983) 245Google Scholar.

16 SeeGurney, John D., ‘The Transformation of Tehran in the Later Nineteenth Century’ in: Adle, Chahryar and Hourcade, Bernard eds, Teheran capitate bicentenaire (Paris and Tehran 1992) 64Google Scholar.

17 Bakhash, , Iran: Monarchy, Bureaucracy & Reform, 9Google Scholar.

18 Lorini, Eteocle, La Persia economica contemporanea e la sua question monclaria (repr.; Tehran 1976) 297 and 299Google Scholar.

19 Dickson (Gulhak) to Alison (London) 3 July 3 1865, PRO, FO248/218.

20 Watson (camp near Tehran) to Alison (London) 5July 1864, PRO, FO248/218.

21 Bon. Fernand du Charmel (campement de Tedjrich (Tajrish)) to Paris 20 September 1869, Archives du Ministère des Affaires Etrangères-Paris (MAE), correspondance politique. Perse 35, ff. 85v–86. The name Davous does not figure in the archive of the Mint of Paris. I have been unable to check the Mints of Rouen and Strasbourg.

22 The Cail Company, founded in 1850 by Jean-Francois Cail, manufactured locomotives, railway equipment, industrial machinery and, as of 1870, also weaponry for the French government. The company employed 2500 workers in Paris and Crenelle, and more than 2000 in plants in Belgium, Holland and northern France. It had additional branches in Russia, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Java and Cuba. See Diclionnaire de Biographie Francaise (Paris 1954) fasc. xxxvii, 840–841.Google Scholar I have been unable to find any information on the other two companies.

23 Fernand du Charmel (Tajrish) 20 September 1869, MAE, corr. pol., Perse 35, f. 86.

24 Watson (camp near Tehran) to Alison (London) 5 July 1864, PRO, FO248/218.

25 Personal interview with Mr Darnis, director of the Archives de la Monnaie de Paris, 22 June 1995.

26 For the Thonnelier press, see Darnis, Jean-Marie, La Monnaie de Paris: Sa creation el son hisloire du Consulal el de l'Empire a la Restauration (1795–1826) (Levallois 1988) 192–194, 199Google Scholar.

27 See Cooper, Denis R., The Art and Craft of Coinmnking: A History of Minting Technology (London 1988) 131–147Google Scholar.

28 Croizier, E.C. de, Les intéréts des européens en Asie: La Perse el les Persans; Nasreddin Schah: Le nouvel Iran el l'équilibre asiatique (Paris 1873) 55ffGoogle Scholar.

29 Farnoud, Massoud, ‘Rapports entre l'lran et l'Europe: Les conseillers européens en Iran au XIXe siècle’ (unpublished thesis, Université de Picardie; 1982) 352Google Scholar.

30 Menault, Ernest, ‘La Perse: Son commerce et son agriculture’, Le Moniteur Universcl (8 March 1860) 353.Google Scholar For Hasan ‘Ali Khan, see also Tieury, Jules, La Perse et la Normandie: Documents pour servir à l"histcire des relations entre la France et la Perse (Evreux 1866) 37–42Google Scholar.

31 Borgomale, H.L. Rabino di, Coins, Medals and Seals of the Shahs of Iran 1500–1941 (Hertford 1945) 188Google Scholar, mentions 1867 and 1870 as possible years of Davous’ departure.

32 Fernand du Charmel (Tajrish) to Paris 20 September 1869, MAE, f.86v.

33 Nashat, Origins of Modern Reform, 24.

34 Dust ‘Ali Khan inherited the post of mu'ayyir al-mamalik from his father, whom he succeeded in 1866. He himself, in turn, was succeeded by his son Dust Muhammad Khan, who became mu'ayyir al-mamalik in 1871. See Massignac (Tehran) to Paris 4 July and 4 August 1866, MAE, corr. pol., Perse 34, fT. 49 and 65v.; and al-Daulah, Mumtahin, Khatiral-i Mumtahin al-Daulah, Khanshiqaqi, Husayn-quli Khan ed. (Tehran 1974) 105Google Scholar.

35 See al-Daulah, Mirza Ali Khan Amin, Khatirat-i Mirza Alt Khan Amin al-Daulah, ed. Farmanfarma'iyan, Hafiz (Tehran 1962) 58Google Scholar.

36 Mounsey, , A Journey through the Caucasus, 324–325Google Scholar.

37 Seidlitz, N. von, ‘Handel und Wandel an der kaspischen Südkúste’, Mittheilungen ausjustus Perthes'geographischer Anslalt uber wichtige neue Forschungen aufdem Gesammlgebiele der Geographic von Dr. A. Pelermann 15 (1869) 256Google Scholar.

38 Slaby, Helmut, Bindenschild und Sönnenlowe: Die Geschichte der Östemichisch-iranischen Beae hungen bis zur Gegenwart (Graz 1982) 136–137Google Scholar.

39 The official Qajar newspaper in March 1870 announced that orders had been given to transport the minting machine to the capital on carriages. See Ruznamah-i aliyah-i daulat–1 Iran II (Dhu l-hijjah 10, 12όύ), (repr.; Tehran 1993) 1207.

40 [Ernst, Van], ‘Reforme’, 107.Google Scholar The French representative in Iran in 1876 estimated Iran's annual exports to be 20 million francs and the country's imports 46 million. See De Balloy (Tehran) to Decazes (Paris) 1 February 1876, MAE, corr. pol., Perse 37, f. 381. The outflow of silver money to Europe was temporarily halted in the 1860s when, due to the American Civil War, a great demand developed for Iranian cotton.

41 Avery, P.W. and Simmons, J.B., ‘Persia on a Cross of Silver, 1880–1890’ in: Kedourie, Elie and Haim, Sylvia G. eds. Towards a Modem Iran: Studies in Thought, Politics and Society (London 1980) 2–3Google Scholar.

42 Arnold, Arthur, Through Persia by Caravan (New York 1877) 135.Google Scholar For the adulteration of silver with lead, tin and copper in this period, see Fernand du Charmel (Tajrish) to Paris 20 September 1869, MAE, Perse 35, f. 84v.

43 ‘Lettres (anonymes) sur la situation politique et economique de la Perse (Tehran)’ 2 April 1867, MAE, Archives diplomatiques, affaires diverses politiques, Perse 1817–1896, vol. 29.

44 For the ban on exports to Russia, see Watson (camp near Tehran) to Alison (London) 5 July 5 1864, PRO, FO 248/218. For the government attempt to prohibit the exportation of gold to India, see the translation of a letter by Mirza Sa'id Khan to Alison 23 February 1867, PRO, FO 60/309. The British, however, arguing that this ban exceeded the jurisdiction of the Qajar government, successfully urged the court to annul the decree. See Alison (Tehran) to London 6 March 1867, ibid.

45 See Bakhash, , Iran: Monarchy, Bureaucracy and Reform, 166–167Google Scholar.

46 Shah, Nasir al-din, The Diary of H.M. the Shah of Persia during his Tour through Europe in A.D. 1873 (trans, from the Persian; London 1874) 55–56Google Scholar.

47 Slaby, , Bindenschild, 122Google Scholar.

48 Ibid., 130.

49 Ibid., 96–97.

50 NeueFreie Presse (Vienna 10 March 1879); Anon. [Riederer, G. Ritter von], Aus Persien: Aufzeichnungen eines Oesterreichers, der 40 Monate im Reiche der Sonne gelebt und gewirkl hat (Vienna 1882) 149Google Scholar; and al-Daulah, Amin, Khatirat-i siyasi, 58Google Scholar.

51 Slaby, , Bindenschild, 130, 135–136Google Scholar; and al-Daulah, Amin, Khatirat-i siyasi, 69.Google Scholar The European sources do not refer to the acquisition of spare parts by Mirza Ali Khan. Perhaps Mirza Ali Khan is the official whose acquaintance Arnold claimed to have made, and who, according to the same source, ‘had a coining-machine sent from Paris at his own expense’. According to the same observer, the khan ‘with the aid of this […]’ had ‘presented the Shah with some specimen coins, remarking at the same time upon the dilatoriness of the Austrians. The consequence was that he received orders to proceed with his manufacture; and now new krans and penabats are occasionally to be seen’. See Arnold, , Through Persia, 135Google Scholar.

52 [Riederer, Von], Aus Persien, 150Google Scholar; al-Daulah, Amin, Khatirat-i siyasi, 59Google Scholar.

53 Arnold, , Through Persia, 135Google Scholar.

54 Karabacek, J., ‘Persische Jubilaum-Medaillen’, Numismatische Zcitschrifl 9 (1877) 259Google Scholar.

55 See Van Ernst, ‘Zur Munzreform’. According to Stephen Album, personal letter, 28 August 1995, the dies for these coins could only have, been produced in Europe. The coins reproduced here are catalogued in Reginald Stuart Poole, The Coins of the Shahs of Persia: Safavis, Afghans, Efsharis, Zands and Kajars (London 1887) p. 202Google Scholar: no. 628-plate XVI; p. 208: no. 646-plate 16.

56 Karabacek, , ‘Persische Jubiläum-Medaillen’, 259–260.Google Scholar The silver medal in plate three also figures in Borgomale, H.L. Rabino di, Album of Coins, Medals and Seals of the Shahs of Iran (1500–1941) (Oxford 1951) no. 48 on plate 44Google Scholar.

57 The later career of Mirza Husayn Khan is a good example. Following his partial reinstatement (as minister of war and foreign affairs), Mirza Husayn Khan never managed to regain the initiative in pressing for reform and, indeed, began to engage in the same behavior that he had formerly condemned. In 1878 his position of authority was curtailed, and in 1880 he was dismissed from his main responsibilities. See Bakhash, , Iran, Monarchy, Bureaucracy & Reform, 173Google Scholar.

58 al-Daulah, Amin, Khatirat-i siyasi 69Google Scholar.

59 Ernst, , ‘Zur Munzreform’, 104–106Google Scholar.

60 [Riederer, Von], Aus Persian, 150–151Google Scholar.

61 Souhaye (Tehran) to Freycinet (Paris) 6 October 1885, MAE, corr. pol. Perse 39, f. 380v.

62 Ernst, Van, ‘Zur Münzreform’, 106Google Scholar.

63 See De Balloy (Tehran) to Decazes (Paris) 27 February 1876, MAE, corr. pol., Perse 37, f. 394v.

64 Mu'tazid, Khusraw, HajjAmin al-Zarb: Tarikh-i lijarat va sarmayah-guzari-yi san'ali dor Iran, 578Google Scholar; and Borgomale, Rabino di, Coins, Medals, and Seals, 19Google Scholar.

65 The article in question may have been the one published in the Neue Freit Prtsse on 10 March 1879; cf. note 50.

66 See Neue Freit Presse (6 March 1879).

67 Borgomale, Rabino di, Coins, Medals and Seals, 151Google Scholar; and Slaby, , Bindenschild, 139Google Scholar.

68 Berliner Münzblatter 1/3 (May 1880) 130: no. 30Google Scholar.

69 Administration des monnaies et médailles: Rapport mi Ministre des Finances, première année (Paris 1896) 203.

70 Mu'tazid, , Hajj Amin al-Zarb, 579Google Scholar.

71 Rabino, Joseph, ‘Banking in Persia’ in: Issawi, Charles ed., The Economic History of Iran (Chicago 1971) 354Google Scholar.

72 SeeBakhash, , Iran, Monarchy, Bureaucracy & Reform, 271.Google Scholar The problem was further exacerbated by the mintmaster's obligation to offer the shah an 8000-franc (c. 850 tuman) gift in gold coins during his annual visit to the mint, and a similar amount to the vazvria'zam. (chief minister). Information provided by Dieulafoy, Jane, Spink and Son's Monthly Numismatic Circulars (1897) 2262Google Scholar.

73 See ‘Report on the Possibility of die Reform of the Currency in Persia’ (Tehran) 19 June 1894, PRO, FO 248/586, Rabino di Borgomale.

74 Stephen Album, personal letter (28 August 1995).