Gold mohur (coin) of Shah Jahangir, with his portrait

The Mughal historian Muhammad Hashim Khafi Khan records that the emperor Jahangir (reigned 1605-28) gave orders in AH 1020 (AD 1611) for the issue of a new coin - like a commemorative medal for presentation. The Emperor ordered that a piece of gold the weight of a gold mohur (coin), with the image of himself on one side and a lion surmounted by a sun on the other 'should be given to favourite Amirs or most devoted servants, and that they were to wear it respectfully on the sash of the turban or on the breast front as a life preserving amulet'.The inscription on the coin is in Arabic script. It translates as: 'A likeness of Jahangir Shah, son of Akbar Shah, in the year six of his reign'. The coin is dated on the reverse AH 1020 according to the Muslim calendar (equivalent to AD 1611). Several examples of these coins have mounts, so that they could be used as jewellery.