Here's a rare and interesting silver dirham of the early 10th century, that probably nobody is much interested in. It's a coin of the Banijurids, a minor eastern Persian dynasty that was in between the Abbasids and the Samanids. They reigned in an area rich of silver mines in the provinces north of Kabul - in the period of the thriving commerce between the Samanid dynasty of current Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, and the Vikings. Half a century later this area was the cradle of the large multiple dirhams measuring 40-50 mm. But what I want to share with you, is the part at the obverse, far left. I turned it a quarter to the right for the picture, so you are looking at a sunrise! This is an intricate coin with a central field and two encircling texts. The inner circle mentions mint and date (296 AH = 908/9 AD), the outer circle is a religious text. Around that is a 1.5 mm thick rim, and outside that: a decoration made of festoons and dots! I have never seen this, and I didn't find anything like it on Zeno, in SNAT or elsewhere. I should add that this coin was engraved well, but struck indifferently. One half is a bit vague. But the parts that are clear, show a great engraver at work. Just look at the delicate double-lined inner ring at the reverse with its petite arabesque at 9 o'clock. The diameter of this coin is 28.5 mm, about the max of a silver dirham of this period. Weight is regular: 2.86 gr. The flan is a bit oval, and that's why you can see a part of that outer rim. So - a difficult coin, I know. But I hope you will add your opinions! What is there on the die, outside the edge?
Correction: according to Zeno this is a Samanid dirham, minted in Shash, 300 AH = 912/913 AD. Still, the outer circle is there and asking for an answer.
I have no answer, but appreciate the coin. Sceattas, my speciality, were minted with large dies (aprox 15 mm) but small flans (typically 10-11 mm). Consequently, much of the design is off-flan. That’s why off-centred coins are of interests: … it allows you to recreate the die (the reverse, in this case), especially when you’re able to find die-matches.
