★ The Afghan adventurer Sher Shah Suri ★

INDIA, Islamic Sultanates. Delhi. Sher Shah Suri, AH 944-952 / AD 1538-1545. Rupee (Silver, 30 mm, 11.10 g, 7 h), AH 952 = AD 1545/6. Goron & Goenka, The Coins of the Indian Sultanates, D827. Several test punches and with minor scrapes, otherwise, very fine.

From the collection of a Swiss scholar, formed over the past thirty years.

Sher Shah Suri was an Afghan adventurer who attacked and defeated the Mughal ruler Humayun. The many reforms initiated by Sher Shah included the introduction of the rupee to replace the tanka and are commonly credited to have laid the groundwork for the great revival of Mughal might after his accidental death in a gunpowder explosion during a siege in May 1545.