Artuqids of Mardin

Here's a coin that I've posted before, since it has been mostly a sad tale of bronze disease, something that seems to occur with this coinage from time to time.

The bronze disease on this coin was in a fairly deep pocket on the reverse, running to the left edge, in an area that I believe was a lamination (separation of metal) that happened at the time of striking. There is a line running from the edge to the pocket. The pocket appears to be quite linear in shape. My theory is that water and copper oxides got into the pocket and, over the centuries, formed the characteristic red deposit that accompanies bronze disease.

Well, after several immersions in a strong solution of distilled water and washing soda, and some scraping, the bronze disease appears to be gone. There is one tiny patch of green, but it appears to be hard and benign.

This coin, of Najm al-Din Alpi, SS type 27, AD 547-572, is interesting because it has the normal countermark on the neck, obverse, and what appear to be two more, a small one below the chin and another on the cheek.

10.89 grams

 

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Did you mean a much smaller number? A 60kb image will show up fine.
I don't want to use up CT storage with images above 150 kb.

 

Yes, smaller images also work for uploading. The large jpg images can be enlarged once posted by clicking on the image.

When I upload an image, such as the one I just included in my post, the image size on my computer, shows it at 51.1 M/54.1 M, which I think indicates that the image size and resolution, at least in Photoshop. "M" in this instance is megabytes.

 

That is extremely high resolution. An image size of 51 mb is 1000 times as much as needed. jpg files of 50-100 kb are enough. I use jpg or jpeg files to reduce the storage required.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I will reduce the image size in future postings.

 

Thanks for the help on how to post images. Here is the page from Lane Poole. The comment about it being copied from Claudius is just a punt from a long time ago...

.
Nice coin!

Here are the steps to upload and insert your images.

1. After selecting Upload a File at the bottom of your post, go down the list of files in your computer's folder and select a file. All of my uploaded files are jpg.

2. After the file has been uploaded, with your mouse or finger pad, select the point in your text where you want the image is to appear. All inserted images are left justified.

3. Go to the image and select full image (my preference), or you can select thumbnail. The image will appear at the selected point.

Note: The image size limit seems to be set at around 60 MB. When I create my images I try to keep them at around 50 MB to avoid uploading issues.

Also, there is a 100 character limit on the image's text, so I often use a lot of abbreviations when creating images I intend to upload for CT, in the hope that I remember what they mean when I actually post the image, a byproduct of turning 70 this year. You will be notified if the description is over the limit. Then you'll need to go back to the file in your computer, edit the description to what seems be be at or under 100 characters and upload again.

Hope this helps.[/QUOTE]

 

I guess its my turn. I picked one up on ebay. It was a type I have been looking for a while. While most of this type have a right-facing head, this one has a left-facing head and thus scarcer. Of course, it is not as scarce a the one with the plant on the side that @BenSi posted...

Artuqids of Mardin: Husam al-Din Yuluq Arslan (1184-1200) Æ Dirhem (Album 1829.4; Whelan Type IV; S&S Type 36.2; Zeno 293026)

Obv: Turk, cross legged, seated facing, holding severed head and raised sword; نور الدين اتا / بك to right (Nur al-Din Atabeg); ornamental in exergue
Rev: Name and titles the Abbasid caliph in three lines - الناصر لدين / الله امير المؤمنين (al-Nasir li-Din Allah, Commander of the Faithful); names and titles of Ayyubid overlord in inner margin - الملك الافضل علي و الملك الظاهر غازي بن الملك الناصر يوسف (the King al-Afdal 'Ali and the King al-Zahir Ghazi b. al-Malik al-Nasir Ayyub); name of Husam al-Din Yuluq Arslan and AH date in outer margin - حسام الدين يولق ارسلان ملك ديار بكر بن ايل غازي بن ارتق ضرب سنة ست و تسعين و خمس (Husam al-Din Yuluq Arslan, King of the Diyar Bakr, b. al-Ghazi b, Artuq, struck (in the) year 596)

 

I picked up another example of what I think to be SS1 , but comparing the two I am not sure they are, I see similarity in the Arabic on the reverse but not sure if it is a match.

The obverse are different coins in style but again was SS1 minted in different styles of anonymous follis types?

The upper is the newer acquisition.

 

Seems to be the same coin, but different mint/date??

 

Looking at BMC Oriental, there are several minor varieties of the type. None are dated. It looks like maybe the ornaments in the arms of the nimbus are different but I don't see any significant differences in the two posted here. An interesting type that proves that at least some of these figural coins were in fact dirhams and not fulus. The inscription reads in full:

was struck this
dirham in the days of
Fakhr al-Din
Qara Arslan

(right) son of Da'ud
(top) son of Artuq
(left) son of Sukman

[edited]

 

Thank You very much @dltsrq

I was not sure Ram, I could not decide if the reverses matched, I just noticed the different ornamentation on the obverse.

 

Those who enjoyed this thread may find this coin about a coin interesting. The coin on the left is a 20 Turkish Lira coin of the Republic of Turkey (note Turkey officially changed it's name to Türkiye in 2022) featuring the coin on the right:

Artuqids of Mardin.,Nasir al-Din Artuq Arslan, AH 597-637 / AD 1200-1239
Æ Dirham Dated AH 628 (AD 1230/1)
Obv: Turkish male figure, crosslegged, seated facing on low, quadrate platform, resting hand on thigh and holding globus; stars flanking head; Artuqid tamgha below; name of Nasir al-Din Artuq Arslan to outer right and left
Rev: Names and titles of Abbasid caliph and Ayyubid overlord in five lines; AH date to outer right and left

 

View attachment 1582492

 

That's a very nice coin! I don't own an example and it is on my want list. I thought I saw one in a group lot a month or two ago, but that lot hammered at a price beyond what I could afford at the time, so the hunt continues.

Since I last posted on this thread I did acquire a good example of the "centaur firing an arrow at a dragon's head" dirham. This coin came out of Roma's E-Sale 81, lot 1693.

Artuqids of Mardin, Nasir al-Din Artuq Arslan, AE dirham, AH 599 (1201-02).
SS38.1; Album1830.
18.17 grams

This coin was actually an after sale purchase, at £37.20. I guess the peripheral corrosion turned off potential bidders, but the central detail is very nice, particularly on the obverse.

 

I just won a couple this weekend. Missed some other examples, but the transitional early Islamic coinage are really fascinating. Working through Arab-Byzantine Coins by Foss, and will be ordering the Spengler books if I can find them. Very interesting era.

 

Wow, some cool coins just posted! Thanks for revising this thread, @Sulla80 , these are really interesting.

Especially for the cross-cultural influences and -- astonishingly -- the "cross-historical" influences...

Copying dies ~1,000 years old. So they kept some kind of "collection" at the mint (or accessible to the mint-masters). It would be great to know the nature of those collections.

(And now, as Sulla's comment shows, we're using those for inspiration after another millennium! There's some "Classical Reception" for you!)

I have exactly TWO of Islamic Figurals from the Artuqids of Mardin.

This is from my "plate coin" collection. Islamic Coins and Their Values, p. 117, #1203.

Artuqids of Mardin. Najm al-Din Alpi Æ Dirham (10.98g, 32mm, 3h), citing Abbasid caliph al-Mustanjid billah, AH 547-572 / 1152-1176 CE.
Obv: Two diademed and draped male heads wearing necklaces (Gemini?); Kalima.
Rev: Youthful female head facing (Virgo?), wearing necklace, within beaded circle; names & titles in margin.
Ref: Spengler & Sayles 30.1; ICV 1203 (this coin illustrated).
Prov: Künker Auction 204 (Osnabrück, 12 Mar 2012), lot 1088; Tim Wilkes FPL 23, July 2017, 99; Dix Noonan Webb (10 Mar 2021), lot 793.​

Note: As the two sets of photos show, apparently there isn't universal agreement about which is obverse. I think I have it right above?... Kalima is always the obverse?

Spengler & Sayles suggest an astrological interpretation, widely but not universally adopted: Gemini and Virgo (the "two houses of Mercury"). I have my own theories about which dies inspired it (Severan, including a Dynastic Aureus).



My second one is a considerable step down in quality. But I like the patina and that it names Saladin. (Unless I'm mistaken!) Just photographed it for the first time to post:

Artuqids of Mardin. Husam al-Din Yuluq Arslan Æ Dirham, AH 580-597 / 1184-1201 CE.
Obv: Diademed male bust facing.
Rev: Legend in six pointed star & in margins, naming the Ayubbid overlord Saladin.
Ref: Spengler & Sayles 33; ICV 1206.
Prov: Ex Holding History / N. Hochrein (DiPere, WI, 13 Dec 2014).​

 

You are not mistaken. It is Spengler and Sayles 33.

Husam al-Din Yuluq Arslan
AH 580-597. AD 1184-1201
Struck AH 581. AD 1185/6.

Obverse: male bust facing directly, wearing crown and mantle, inscription on each side of bust all within a circle of dots
Inscription: Husam al-Din Yuluq Arslan

Reverse: central inscription within a six-pointed star of dots, second inscription around the outside of the star all within a circle of dots
Central inscription: al-Malik al-Nasir Salah al-Dunya wa ‘l-Din Yusuf b. Ayyub (that is, Saladin, his Ayyubid overlord)
Surrounding inscription: Struck in the year 581

Here is my example:

 

I went through this thread again and noted some links I included to "The David Collection" of very high quality Islamic coins in Copenhagen are broken. Searching around, I found their site and then their Turkoman coins by searching their site for "coin":
https://www.davidmus.dk/search-the-collection?q=coin
(You might have to hit the "See all" link on the right, and it has an "English" option at the top right.)
However, that brings up 365 Islamic coins including many non-Turkoman coins. You can just use that link.

I also refined it by searching on dynasties (searching on "Turkoman" didn't work).

Artuqid
https://www.davidmus.dk/search-the-collection?q=Artuqid coin

Ayyubid:
https://www.davidmus.dk/search-the-collection?q=Ayyubid coin

Zangid (a.k.a. Zengid)
https://www.davidmus.dk/search-the-collection?q=Zangid coin

Begteginid
https://www.davidmus.dk/search-the-collection?q=Begteginid coin

Salduqid
https://www.davidmus.dk/search-the-collection?q=Salduqid coin

It is very far from a complete collection, but the coins it has are top quality.

Here is a recent acquisition:


S&S 19. Artuqids of Hisn Kayfa an Amid
Rukn al-Din Mawdud
AH 619-629. AD 1222-1232.
27 mm. 10.32 grams.
Struck at Amid, AH 621 = AD 1224
Two-headed eagle in circle in square in circle.
Legend in circle in square in circle.