Rasht, the principal city of Gilan province on Iran's Caspian littoral, issued anonymous copper falus during periods when central Qajar monetary authority had effectively collapsed at the provincial level. These city-issued pieces filled a vacuum left by chronic shortages of small-denomination coinage from the royal mints at Tehran and Tabriz. Album 3257 covers a broad range of anonymous Iranian city coppers, and the Rasht issues within that grouping are among the more frequently encountered — Gilan's commercial activity, fed by the silk trade and Caspian port traffic, created genuine demand for low-value transactional coinage.
Rasht, the principal city of Gilan province on Iran's Caspian littoral, issued anonymous copper falus during periods when central Qajar monetary authority had effectively collapsed at the provincial level. These city-issued pieces filled a vacuum left by chronic shortages of small-denomination coinage from the royal mints at Tehran and Tabriz. Album 3257 covers a broad range of anonymous Iranian city coppers, and the Rasht issues within that grouping are among the more frequently encountered — Gilan's commercial activity, fed by the silk trade and Caspian port traffic, created genuine demand for low-value transactional coinage.