AFGHANISTAN. Emirate. Habibullah. Copper Paisa (4.04 g). Qandahar. AH1322 (1904). C/S Iran 50 Dinar (KM-833). KM-960.2.

This remarkable copper coin is a genuine piece of numismatic history in the most literal sense — a coin struck upon a coin. Catalogued as KM-960.2, this is an Afghan falus (paisa) produced at the Qandahar Mint in AH1322 (1904 AD) by counterstamping an Iranian 50 Dinar (KM-833) host coin, transforming it into an official denomination of the Emirate of Afghanistan. The coin weighs 4.04 grams, consistent with the recorded weight range for this type, and the larger flan of the Iranian host coin is visible beneath the Afghan counterstamp — giving this piece its distinctive two-identity character that makes it so compelling to collectors. The counterstamp carries a Persian legend reading "Zarb Qandahar 1322" along with the regnal year 3, identifying the Qandahar Mint and tying the coin directly to the third year of Habibullah's reign. The practice of counterstamping foreign or locally available coins was a pragmatic monetary solution in frontier regions where minting resources were limited, and examples like this one offer a vivid window into the economic realities of early 20th century Afghanistan. Habibullah Khan was the Emir of Afghanistan from 1901 until his assassination in 1919. The eldest son of Emir Abdur Rahman Khan, he succeeded his father by right of primogeniture and pursued a relatively reform-minded course, working to modernize Afghanistan and ease tensions with British India. In 1904 — the very year this coin was struck — Habibullah founded the Habibia School in Kabul, Afghanistan's first modern secondary school, and a military academy, reflecting his broader ambitions for the country. The host coin, an Iranian 50 Dinar of the Qajar dynasty, itself carries historical weight as a product of the neighboring Persian Empire, making this counterstruck paisa a fascinating cross-border artifact that bridges the monetary worlds of two great Islamic states. The fact that the Qandahar Mint specifically used Iranian coins as blanks speaks to the deep commercial and geographic ties between southern Afghanistan and Persia during this period — Qandahar's proximity to the Iranian border made Qajar copper coins a natural and readily available raw material. For the advanced collector of Afghan coinage, Islamic numismatics, or Qajar-era Persian coins, this counterstruck paisa occupies a uniquely specialized niche. It is simultaneously an Afghan coin and an Iranian coin, a frontier artifact and an official emission, and a tangible record of the monetary improvisation that defined coinage in early 20th century Central Asia.