e. Of Babur s vassal-coinage.
The following historical details narrow the field of numismatic observation on coins believed struck by Babur as a vassal of Isma'll Safawi. They are offered because not readily accessible.
The length of Babur's second term of rule in Transoxiana was not the three solar years of the B.M. Coin Catalogues but did not exceed eight months. He entered Samarkand in the middle of Rajab 917 AH. (c. Oct. 1st, 1511 AD.). He returned, to it defeated and fled at once, after the battle of Kui-i-malik which was fought in Safar 918 AH. (mid-April to mid-May 1512 AD.). Previous to the entry he was in the field, without a fixed base ; after his flight he was landless till at the end both of 920 AH. and of 1514 AD. he had returned to Kabul.
He would not find a full Treasury in Samarkand because the Auzbegs evacuated the fort at their own time; eight months would not give him large tribute in kind. He failed in Transoxiana because he was the ally of a Shi'a ; would coins bearing the Shi'a legend have passed current from a Samarkand mint ? These various circumstances suggest that he could not have struck many coins of any kind in Samarkand.
The coins classed in the B.M. Catalogues as of Babur's vassalage, offer a point of difficulty to readers of his ownwritings, inasmuch as neither the " Sultan Muhammad" of No. 652 (gold), nor the " Sultan Babur Bahadur" of the silver coins enables confident acceptance of them as names he himself would use.
