Monetary history is not just about numismatics. Much broader in scope, it includes numerous other means of payment, such as paper money, cheques or money transfers, and uncoined precious metals. It also deals with institutions and professions, for example money-changers, mints and banks. The history of money (or Geldgeschichte) requires interdisciplinary perspectives. It is an important subcategory of economic and social history and addresses theories of finance and monetary policies as well as anthropological questions dealing with exchange and barter. Quite often monetary history touches other fields of the auxiliary historical sciences, art history, or even natural sciences such as metallurgy and geology, especially when it comes to alloys and mining.
The present book by Rudi Matthee, Willem Floor and Patrick Clawson is the first to deal exclusively with the monetary history of Iran, and thus truly establishes a new landmark in research. As is the case with most books that enter new territory, unfair criticism might set out by enumerating what this book is not about: some might say that the time frame is arbitrary as the book covers the early modern period and deals only cursorily with older periods such as the Mongol and post-Mongol eras. Others might have looked for a more comparative treatment of monetary history in neighbouring Islamic regions, such as the Ottomans, India, Afghanistan or Central Asia. However, none of that holds true: only the concentration on a clearly defined territory and a dynastic sequence makes the book coherent and allows us to recognize certain patterns in the early modern monetary history of Iran.
The book is divided into three chronological parts and seven chapters. While the chapters are not assigned specifically to the three individual authors, given the relevant specializations and previous research of the contributors one can take an informed guess about who took the lead in certain fields. In the main parts, devoted to the Safavids, the Afsharids/Zand, and the Qajars respectively, the chapters follow certain thematic lines and address central issues: the practice of minting and the production of coins, the trade in bullion, repeated attempts towards active monetary politics, the move between metallic standards (such as the rise of copper against silver in the eighteenth century), and the modernization of the Iranian monetary system in the late nineteenth century. The discussion is enriched by detailed tables and charts, and the book features some very attractive colour plates. Beyond the obvious fact that this is a treasure-trove of details and a superb collection of available sources, the book manages to present a number of very clear-cut findings. Chapter 3 demonstrates convincingly that bullion had become a commodity of international trade, making it extremely difficult to control or manipulate the market. The ability of Safavid authorities to regulate the monetary system was thus necessarily limited, and certain prohibitive measures only had temporary effects on the market. This chapter also shows what precious information can be gained from the VOC archives and forms a masterpiece of interpretation. Chapter 4 links monetary questions to the overall fate of the later Safavid state. The state's measures were directed towards attempts to maximize revenue, but ultimately further reduced confidence in Iran's currency. The importance of copper money, the “flight into copper”, becomes symbolic for the situation during the eighteenth century, as discussed in chapter 5. Not even Nadir's conquests and the booty brought from India were able to change this trend. The last two chapters delineate the importance of the mints in the Qajar period and the growing influence of European powers in the monetary policy of Iran. The Imperial Bank of Persia, mechanized minting and the difficulties of maintaining a silver standard in the face of a global move towards gold are shown to be the basic characteristics of this period.
Much editing must have gone into the making of this joint study. Not surprisingly, it is difficult to maintain style, methodology and scholarly rigour. In some instances, fascinating questions are delegated to a marginal footnote: for example, how, in the end, are we to assess the monetary policies of Amin al-Zarb (p. 219)? The heavy reliance on VOC reports and archives as well as European travelogues is understandable, given the limited information provided by Iranian sources. Still, the colonial gaze at times becomes overwhelming in its intensity. It would have been welcome if the authors had not simply reiterated statements as factual evidence, but also questioned them. A quote from Morier such as “Most of the gold is clipped, as every Jew pares a little off” (p. 189) perhaps tells us more about anti-Semitic stereotypes in Europe than about monetary realities. Especially for the Qajar period, Iranian archives can yield valuable additional material that would have to be consulted in further studies.
A certain liberal attitude towards references and citations must be noted. It is definitely correct to quote the contemporary English translation of Thévenot's travelogue, but one should not refer to the French original in the notes while keeping the page numbers of the English edition. The index is limited to four pages which, given the detailed character of the book and the abundant personal names, is rather disappointing.
Given that monetary history can be a little bit tedious, one might want to approach the book in smaller instalments. I would recommend beginning with the last chapter, which reads very well and offers many general reflections, then adding the section on technical aspects of minting in chapter 6, and then to enjoy the detailed chapters on the Safavids. To sum up, this is a wonderful book that opens up new avenues of research and which, with its detailed and lucid analyses, magnificent tables and graphs, copious notes and treasure trove of facts, will certainly become a standard reference work.
