½ Rupee / Qiran - Muhammad Yaqub Herat Dar Al-Sultanat

The denomination of this type as half rupee or qiran is widely used as equivalents in most references, and the standard weight was 4,61 grams, same as the Iranian qiran from the Qajar dynasty.

Legends are in Pashto alphabet, which differs a little from standard Arabic, on style and letters.

Obverse:

Reverse:

This coin has many variants regarding the position of the date on the obverse and date on the reverse. Some coins show the date on both sides, some on only one side. On the obverse, it can be on top or on the bottom.

Date on obverse top, none on reverse

Date on obverse top, and on reverse

Date on obverse bottom, and on reverse

On the reverse, the date is under ب  in "zarb" as in the left picture below (if it is “inside” the ب  in “zarb”, it is not this type, but KM#416, as in the picture on the right )

Furthermore, the four numerals of the date can be all to the left of  ر in “zarb” or three and one or two and two on each side, as in the following examples:

Please note the number 6 is ۶, since these are Pashto numerals.

The borders consist of generally two thin lines on the inside and a decorative motif (half circles, reeds, crosses, etc .. ), and one or two thin lines on the outside. However since most of the flans are smaller than the dies, the circles can only be seen in non centered coins. 

Many variants and combinations of the border circles exists between obverses and reverses, as depicted above.

All pictures above from Zeno.ru

According to Stephen Album comments on Zeno: 

"This date (AH1298) is only moderately scarce for the Muhammad Ya'qub qirat of Herat. Ya'qub abdicated on 25 Shawwal 1296 (sic), when Kabul was reoccupied by the British army, and they continued to authorize coinage at Kabul in the name of Ya'qub, until towards the middle of 1297, when Abd al-Rahman was enthroned (the British withdrew several months afterwards). Local coinage of Herat in 1298 continued to recognize Ya'qub, switching to the name of 'Abd al-Rahman later in that year.

The coins of Herat at the this period were known as the Iranian qiran, heavier than the 1/2 rupee of Kabul until 1294, thereafter of the same weight (and presumably the same fineness) as the 1/2 dirham from 1295 until its last issue in 1308.

I will note the 1298 coinage in the 4th edition of the Checklist."