circa 1838: The Báb “took over the complete management of the trading-house” in Búshihr

Unfortunately records of the years that the Báb spent in Búshihr are scant. We cannot be certain as to the exact dates when He took over the complete management of the trading-house and when He retired. Hájí Mu’inu’s-Saltanih of Tabríz states in his chronicle that the Báb assumed direct responsibility at the age of twenty. If that statement be correct, the period during which He acted on His own was quite brief. 

- Hand of the Cause Balyuzi ('The Báb - The Herald of the Day of Days')

The Báb indicates that He lived in Shiraz for the first 15 years of His life and in Búshihr for 5 years

Thou art aware, O My God, that since the day Thou didst call Me into being out of the water of Thy love till I reached fifteen years of age I lived in the land which witnessed My birth [Shíráz]. Then Thou didst enable Me to go to the seaport [Búshihr] where for five years I was engaged in trading with the goodly gifts of Thy realm and was occupied in that with which Thou hast favoured Me through the wondrous essence of Thy loving-kindness. 

- The Báb (‘Selections from the Writings of the Báb)

The Báb indicates that He “began the occupation of commerce…from the age of ten”

A.Q. Afnán suggests that based on extensive family correspondence examined by him, the Báb began to work in His uncle’s office at the age of ten, and it was at the age of fifteen—the age of maturity in Islamic law—that He moved to Bushihr.

The same information is provided by the Báb Himself in the Kitab-i-Fihrist:

“After My childhood had passed, by the will of God, I began the occupation of commerce as this was decreed by God, and I commenced this from the age of ten.” 

(Provisional translation, Footnotes to ‘The Báb in Shiraz, An Account by Mírzá Habíbu’lláh Afnán’, provided by Ahang Rabbani)