The Royal Currency of Aceh
Hello Steemian’s
The discovery of a large number of gold coins (dirham Aceh) by an oyster seeker in Gampong Pande, Kutaraja Subdistrict, Aceh Province, Indonesia, which had been horrendous about six years ago, had made me take the initiative to find out more about the shape and validity of the eyes the gold money.
From the news I followed, so far it has not been revealed during the Sultan's time whether the gold currency was issued and applied in Aceh. That is why, I want to find out the origin of Aceh's golden currency first.
Dirhams whose numbers are estimated to reach thousands of pieces when found are stored in jugs. But unfortunately, the jug was damaged by its inventor, so some coins inside it spilled scattered in the water and dragged a few meters from where the jug was found. In fact, the surrounding community who knew this discovery, then joined in searching for Aceh dirham coins at that location. Those who were lucky to get this 'Dirham' immediately sold it to gold merchant shops in Banda Aceh at that time.
The period of the Sultan of Aceh
From the results of the research that I have read about the discovery of 300 pieces of thousands of pieces of gold dirham coins, it is known that based on Arabic calligraphy written on each coin, it turns out that the gold dirham found in Gampong Pande was output dirham during the reign of the five Sultan rulers The Kingdom of Aceh Darussalam before the 16th century.
This is known from the names of the Sultan written on the gold currency, namely:
Sultan Salah ad-Din (1530-1537)
Sulthan Ala ad-Din Riyat Syah al-Qahar (1537-1571)
Sultan Ali Riayat Syah (1571-1579)
Sultan Ala ad-Din bin Amad
Sultan Ala ud-Din bin Ala ud-Din
As I read, on the golden dirham, the era of Sultan Salah ad-Din (1530-1537) was found in Pande Village, according to Filolog Nurdin AR in front of the currency written "Salah ibn 'Ali Malik az-Zahir" And the part behind it was written "as-Sultan al-`adil". While the period of dirham from Sultan Ala ad-Din Riayat Syah al-Qahar (1537-1571), the front part was written "Ala ad-Din bin Ali bin Malik az-Zahir" and the back was written "as-Sultan al- Both dirhams It has the same profile, which is 11 millimeters in diameter, weighs 0.600 grams (600 milligrams), and the gold content is 18 carats.
And the use of the title "Malik az-Zahir" in the dirham currency of the Kingdom of Aceh Darussalam by several sultans - from Sultan Ali Mughayat Syah (1514-1530) to Sultan Muda, son of Sultan Ali Riayat Syah (1579) - is a title referred in the dirham currency of the Pasai Kingdom. After that, including during the time of Sultan Iskandar Muda and thereafter no longer included the titles "Malik az-Zahir" and "as-Sultan al-Adil" on the gold currency of the Kingdom of Aceh Darussalam.
Interestingly, of the 300 pieces of dirham that have been studied, some of them have pieces of Turkish dirham, which are larger than the Aceh dirham. On Turkish dirham output in 1273 AD it was written "Sultan Sulaiman Shah bin Salim Shah Khan", with gold content reaching 99% or 24 carats. If it is valued now, the Turkish dirham found in Gampong Pande costs around Rp 5-6 million per piece.
On the other hand, with the findings of the Turkish Dirham which together with the findings of the Aceh Dirham indicated that Aceh had established friendly relations with the Usmaniah Islamic Kingdom in Turkey since the time of the Sultan 'Ala ad-Din Riayat Syah al-Qahar (1537-1568 AD), as a The Sultan of Aceh who produced the most gold dirham in his time.
Making dirham
The raw material for making dirham is pure gold (99% gold) and mixed with silver around 25%. The silver thread on the dirham is to make it easier to make, on the side it will look a softer dirham shape. Compared to a mixture of copper, the preparation is rather difficult, because when the copper is mixed with copper a little harder, and the color is also somewhat redder, compared to the dirham mixed with silver, the color is a little whitish and soft.
In the history of the kingdom in Aceh, according to the research of archaeologists there were only two kingdoms that had issued dirham currency made of gold, namely the Islamic kingdom of the Pasai Ocean and the Kingdom of Aceh Darussalam. The pieces of the Kingdom of Samudera Pasai dirham are thicker and the shape is slightly smaller than the dirham of the Kingdom of Aceh Darussalam. While the weight is the same, which is 0.600 grams (600 milligrams).
About 15 years ago, in an area in North Aceh, a place for the creation of a new dirham was discovered. Dirham that is made very nice and neat, exactly the original dirham. The quality of this new dirham is exactly the same as the old original dirham, both its weight and Arabic writing on the surface of the dirham. So, if people aren't experts about dirhams, they will be fooled if they buy them.
Because at that time a lot of new dirhams circulated in Aceh, so many dirham collectors from various countries came to Aceh, including from Europe. But they are very thorough and know very well to distinguish between a new artificial dirham with an old dirham (original dirham). As a result, the foreign collectors no longer wanted to come to Aceh in search of dirhams. They already knew that Aceh had many fake dirhams circulating. Even as a result of the circulation of a new dirham in Aceh at that time, it had made the original dirham fall in price in Aceh.
Regards
Thank You for Reading, Hopefully Helpful...
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