The Early Islamic Conquests: New Acquisition and Discussion

Maybe you'd like to see a full-text Islamic coin with attractive calligraphy, well, this is one that's really to my taste, beautiful in its simplicity. It's from the Qarakhanids, an Eastern dynasty in which the lords, overlords and underlords of the ruling family rolled over one another fighting, where fratricide was a hobby. They lasted from about 1000-1200 AD. This is a silver dirhem of the year 426 AH = 1035 AD, issued by Nasir al-Haqq Qadir khaqan Sulayman bin Harun (Khaqan meaning Overlord) in the fortified town of Uzgen, now Kyrgyzstan. It measures 25 mm, weight is 4,11 gr.

 

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The countermark on the second coin reads "Gurkhan / Abu Sa'id / 'azz al-Sultan" and is attributed to the Timurid ruler Abu Sa'id Gurkhan, 1451-1469 (not to be confused with the ilkhan Abu Sa'id), Album 2417. The host coin is probably also Timurid. The obverse is the kalima surrounded by the names and epithets of the Rashidun (Abu Bakr, 'Uthman, 'Umar and 'Ali). The reverse should bear the sultan's name but it seems to have been largely obliterated by the countermark. I can read zarb / al-sultan ... / khan wa ... / sultan ... / mulkahu wa sultanahu / sanat (date). The date is very weak but along with the legible parts and general layout, the host type should be attributable by comparison with similar coins.

 

i have a qarakhanid coin as well. i don't know anything about it really, just thought it was pretty...i'm not even sure i have the pics oriented correcty. this is a large coin, about 35 mm.

 

This is a silver-washed AE dirhem, very thin. Yours is in fact in excellent condition, because they were weakly struck. And it has a fine patina. I really love those broad and dark copper coins. Pity I can't read Arabic, but maybe dltsrq can help you attribute it.

If you want to learn more about this very intricate coinage, you may read the Journal of the Oriental Numismatic Society, especially the articles by Michael Fedorov.

 

Hello everyone!

I am new to this forum and this is my first post. I will try to get useful at once....

This coin from Tabaristan was minted by an Abbasid (sic) Guvernor named "Hani bin Hani" and his name is written in front of the portrait.

The year is 137 in the Post Yazdgerd Era (PYE), which corresponds to CE 788/789. The year is written in Pahlavi script to the left of the fire with the two attendants. This makes the coin contemporary with the famous Harun ar-Rashid!

To the right of the fire the mint Tabaristan (TPWLST) is given.

There is more to say about this coin, but I will see how this post turns out and listen to your comments

 

Thanks, Sobris. I hope we will see more of these informative posts from you.

 

Hello again. I managed to acquire these 2 Islamic coins today. They're pretty with natural sandy patina, One of them shows possibly a clear date.

 

I suppose you have Richard Plant's book, or maybe you don't need it. Go ahead, what's that date? Is it an Abbasid fals?

 

welcome, sobris ... cheers, brother

 

I have two coins of the fals from Hims (Emesa, now the sad city of Homs) of ValiantKnight's OP, more or less the same type, with KALON (Greek for Good) and tayyib (Arabic for Good), the depiction of the person carrying an orb and cross, the mint in both languages, the M (= 40 units) on the reverse, under a star.
These were issued between 685 and 692. As clear as I wish, and with a nice desert patina.

The left one is SICA 1, 543; Album 3524, diam. 20 mm, weighing 4,22 gr., 7 h.
The right one is SICA 1, 544; Album 3524, diam. 20 mm, weighing 4,85 gr., 6 h.

 

It seems like you want to hear the continued story about the coin from Tabaristan

First about the denomination, which we call 1/2 Drachm with a weight of around 2 g. The old Sasanian system had full drachms at about 4 g, and the 1/2 drachms were very rare during the Sasanian Dynasty. The Sasanian empire fell in 651 when Yazdgerd III was killed. With this coin we move 137 years in history, where the new weight standard of the muslim dirham of 3 g has been established for about 100 years. The Arab-Tabaristan coins are all 1/2 Drachms according to the old Sasanian standard, but the denomination is not written on the coin...

Now the language: The name of the governor is written in Kufic Arabic, all other text is Middle Persian language and Pahlavi script. I have already talked about the year and the mint written on the reverse, but there is more Pahlavi text on the obverse. Behind the portrait we find the text "APZWT GDH", which is usually interpreted as "May his glory increase". In the margin at four o´clock there are three letters "APD", meaning "excellent" and at eight o'clock we find four letters "NWKW", that says "Good".

I will also say something about a special symbol that is found all over the place on both obverse and reverse and that is the triangle of pearls. On the obverse we find it in the necklace and there should be a third pearl in the earring too. On the reverse the symbol is repeated four times around the margin. This is the symbol of the god Tishtrya, who is connected to the star Sirius. Sirius together with two other stars, Procyon and Betelgeuse, form the constallation "The Winter Triangle".

 

I countinue with the dirham from Madinat al-Salam posted by ValiantKnight and would like to give a different reading of the year. I think it says 158 = 774/775.

The Umayyad dirham posted by "7Calbrey" also needs a new reading of the date. This is AH92 = 710/711 CE. The new reading of the mint by "dtlsrq" as Darabjird is correct, but as the year is wrong the reference to Klat must also be corrected. It is instead Klat293...

 

Here is a suggested reading of the Abbasid dirham posted by 7Calbrey. It is a bit hard to read, but I think this is AH182 = 798/799CE and the mint is al-Muhammadiya (also called al-Rayy). The three symbols at the top of the field on the reverse and the name "Jafar" at the bottom in the field adds to the solution of the puzzle...

 

Hi Friends. I just found these 2 coins in my old box. I wish I was as organized as you , guys. They are different in size: The first weighs 12.7 g. whereas the second weighs only 1.9 g. I believe they include symbols, lettering, animated things and even living creatures. I do appreciate all your comments.

 

I wish Cointalk was a bit more organized, now we have a dozen different coins in one thread, that makes comments difficult. Your upper coin is an Artuqid or Zengid bronze pictorial dirhem of (about) the 12th century. I think your second one is older, but I don't really know.

That must be a fantastic box, @7Calbrey, if it yields all those old coins.

 

Thank you very much for your kind and informative contribution. Indeed, that would encourage us to keep up the hunt, as there are other educated people who share with us the same hobby.

 

Before I go to sleep, I'd like to show you three Umayyad bronze coins dating from the early 8th century, all with an animal on the obverse. Hard to tell what sort of animal. The middle one (coined in Tiberias, I believe) has a leopard with claws, the other two (from Hims) have another beast.
They measure about 16 mm and weigh between 1,66 and 3 gr.
I hope some of you may be able to tell me more.

 

This venue is the opposite of another we all know which has a rule of one coin per thread. We regularly include a line in an opening post asking people to post anything even remotely related which causes some of us to post that they have nothing to post that fits so they will post something else. Is there no middle ground? By the time many threads reach page two it is hard to recall what the subject was anyway. I would prefer more threads with narrower subjects and more people willing to start a new thread on something they find interesting that we ight not have covered that week. Today I ordered my first coin of 2016 and it happens to relate to one from earlier this week. Should I tack it on to that old thread, start a new thread or just put it away for six months and start a new thread when things seem slow? I suspect each of those options will have a few supporters.

 

Well, I'm on both forums, because both have their assets. WoC is more studious, more in-depth. Here you find fast answers, something I value very much, and there's a lot of applause and infectious enthusiasm. I already learnt a lot on Cointalk.
But attention fades away like smoke in one or two days, whereas at the other forum subjects may flare up spot-on after months.
There might be a bit more structure (or maybe I just didn't find it in my ten days on Cointalk). An organic way to put coins that are different from the OP into another branch.