I recently got this in a lot - I've spent some time cruising Arabic dirhems and found a few that seem close, but no exact matches. As close as I can come is an Ayyubid dirhem "'Square in circle" type. Kalima around square. Caliph's name (al-Nasir) and titles" (from a FORVM post). Or it could be a Crusader imitation. Or a 19th century issue from Egypt that I am just missing...this is far out of my area, but it intrigues me and I'd like to learn more. It is about 20 mm in diameter and weighs 2.66 grams. Many thanks! While I'm at it, my local dealer had this impressively dumpy copper dump in his junk bin. It is one of those coins I wouldn't have thought an area of interest until I got it in hand - I think it is marvelous. Anyway, I've been surfing images of these as well. As close as I came was the Ahmadnagar Sultanate - it is 20 mm in diameter and 7 mm thick, weighing 20.94 grams. I found a lot that were similar, but not quite like this one. Again, thanks for your help.
The Ayyubid i think is Al-Nasir II. Salah al-Din Yusuf. The copper coin denomination is called a Dam. Not much to help with attribution though.
On the side right, I can read " The Prince of Believers". That's the title which was attributed to all Caliphs. On the side left, I can read " Saladin, the triumphal King."
Thank you all for your help and input on these - the Al-Nasir II. Salah al-Din Yusuf seems to be matching my rather incomplete example.
Thank you for the additional information, THCoins. I'm going to try and educate myself on these interesting, chunky coins. For now, here is my semi-attribution I'll use on the flip: India, Ahmadnagar Æ Dam Burhan Nizam Shah III c. 1610-1634 Surat Mint Persian inscription both sides: Darb Burham Nizam Shahi / Fi Shuhur Sanah (?). (20.94 grams / 22 mm) Uncertain Attribution; appears to be a Mughal dam of the 17th century.
I would not go for your semi-attribution, because it is contradictory. Ahmadnagar was an independent sultanate, until it was taken over by the Mughals. In addition, the city of Surat has never been within the territory of Ahmadnagar. This is not at all my collection focus but did a quick search for you. Please compare your coin with this one: https://www.zeno.ru/showphoto.php?photo=124941
Thank you, THCoins - my ignorance of both Indian history and Indian numismatics is showing! I really appreciate your help with this. I'd been on that Zeno.ru before, but I am so new to this sort of coinage I didn't even know where to start my search. The example you linked does look a lot like mine. Again, thank you for your help.
