Help needed: Ilkhan 2 dirham?

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by Orielensis, Mar 25, 2020.

  1. Orielensis

    Orielensis Well-Known Member

    Dear all,

    Since the Corona crisis means that I have to spend a lot of time at home, I'm finally trying to properly attribute some miscellaneous coins that have accumulated over the years.

    I don't really collect Islamic coins, mostly because I don't read Arabic, but occasionally I add a piece I find interesting, especially if it is historically connected to my Western medieval areas of interest. The coin below was a €3 piece of "bycatch" from an infamous German ebay dealer whom I don't patronize anymore, partly because a whole number of his attributions turned out to be incorrect. The seller had a large number of these on offer back then, and I had already paid shipping for another coin...

    I bought it as a 2 dirham piece of the Ilkhan ruler Taghay Timur (1329/30–1363). Yet, I can't find it on the great website zeno.ru or anywhere else, and strongly doubt that this attribution is correct. Maybe someone here can give me a hint in the right direction? Any help is appreciated!

    Below are pictures of my coin and, to help identification, a better example from the same seller. The diameter of my coin is 19mm, the weight is 1.3g.

    Bildschirmfoto 2020-03-25 um 17.51.07.png

    Bildschirmfoto 2020-03-25 um 17.55.42.png
     
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  3. Gary Waddingham

    Gary Waddingham Well-Known Member

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  4. EWC3

    EWC3 (mood: stubborn)

    Nope - the bottom coin is a very late issue of the Artuqids of Mardin. See MI 1102.

    Shams al Salih, 712-65H

    There was a huge hoard of these going round in the 1980's

    I must say if you expect the guy to sell it you for three euro and get the attribution right as well then ........ you drive a pretty hard bargain :)

    Rob T

    PS I think your own coin is just the same, but hard to be certain given the strike and pic. The 80's hoard was worn but not corroded, and yours looks (?) vice versa, so maybe from a different find
     
    Last edited: Mar 26, 2020
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  5. EWC3

    EWC3 (mood: stubborn)

    Edit timed out on me ..........EWC 532 is the same guy, but a different type
     
  6. Ed Snible

    Ed Snible Well-Known Member

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  7. Orielensis

    Orielensis Well-Known Member

    Thanks a lot for your help, the three of you!

    That's extremely helpful, and now I see that I was searching and thinking in the wrong direction when only looking at Ilkhan coins. Thank you very much, Rob!

    Yes, that indeed looks like my coin! Thanks a lot for the link – I appreciate it.

    Well, I truly wish I had such bargaining skills! Normally, I wouldn't ask for anything but the coin at such a price. Yet, the seller in question (Lanz) seems to have made it a habit to attribute coins they don't immediately recognize to well-known historical figures in order to attract bidders to their ebay auctions. This is a practice I find a little irksome.

    Lanz sold dozens of these coins on ebay in 2018, all in similar condition and attributed to Taghay Timur – maybe they had bought a small hoard?
     
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