I haven't posted any coins in a while, and although my buying is somewhat down compared to the last couple of years, I have by now accumulated a backlog of coins. So, since I've got some time this weekend, I will try to work through the backlog in the next couple of weeks. Starting with: Crusader imitative of an Ayyubid AR dirham of Al-Malik az-Zahir Ghiyath ud-Din Ghazi ibn Yusuf ibn Ayyub (1193-1216), issued c. 1216-1260. Obverse and reverse: Arabic inscriptions within hexagram, additional inscriptions along edges. Weakly struck on cracked flan. Album 836. This coin: Purchased from Joel Anderson, late 2020. The Ayyubid dynasty was founded by the famous Al-Nasir Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub (better known as Saladin) in 1174 AD. Saladin's initial power base was in Egypt, but he was able to add territory in Syria, Mesopotamia, Arabia, Yemen and the Levant. His conquests included much of the Crusader-held territory in the Holy Land, including Jerusalem, though he was unable to take the coastal region. Here's a map of Ayyubid territory at the time of Saladin's death in 1193 (map from Wikipedia): After Saladin's death, power over his domains was (unevenly) divided among his three sons and a surviving brother. Az-Zahir Ghazi was the youngest of the three siblings, just 21 at the time of his father's death (though he was appointed governor of Aleppo and Mosul at age 15) and over the next several years he was out-maneuvered and ended up ruling only the region around Aleppo, Syria. In 1212, he married the daughter of his uncle Al-Adil, ending the rivalry in the family. Az-Zahir died in 1216, leaving the throne of his limited domain to his son. This coin, though copying the designs of Az-Zahir's coinage, is thought to be a Crusader imitation, probably from the Kingdom of Tripoli, and most likely struck after Az-Zahir's death. The Crusader imitations have a distinctive style, sometimes bear dates after Az-Zahir's death, and are of lower silver content than the originals. Album notes, "Ayyubid silver coins were extensively imitated by the Crusaders in the late 12th and 13th centuries, even after the practice was forbidden by papal decree in 1251." Please post your Ayyubid coins, or Crusader coins, or imitative coins.
The legends are crude but can still be read. At left (obverse) center, al-malik / al-Zahir Ghazi / ibn Yusuf bin / Ayyub; in margin segments, mint and date. At right (reverse) center, al-imam / al-Nasir Ahmad / al-malik al-'Adil / Abu Bakr; in margin, the Kalima. "the king / al-Zahir Ghazi / son of Yusuf son of / Ayyub // the imam / al-Nasir Ahmad / the king al-'Adil / Abu Bakr". al-Nasir Ahmad is the 'Abbasid caliph. al-'Adil Abu Bakr is the Ayyubid sultan ruling in Cairo, al-Zahir's overlord. The mint is missing but should be "Halab" (Aleppo). As noted, the Crusader imitations must have been struck elsewhere, likely Tripoli. The date is a head-scratcher. Interesting coin!
Here is some Crusader silver, all grossi. #1 is Saint Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270 AD.) Europe’s first gros tournois circa 1266-1270 AD. Some luster remaining. Ciani 181. Obv: cross, légende intérieure : + LVDOVICVS. REX légende extérieure : + BNDICTV: SIT: NOmE: DHI: nRI: DEI: IhV. XPI, (ponctuation par trois besants superposés). Traduction: (Louis roi ; Que le nom de notre seigneur Jésus-Christ soit béni). Rev: TURONIS CIVIS. #2 is Bohemund VI of Tripoli 1251-75 AD. He was knighted in Acre by St. Louis IX, married Sybilla of Armenia, daughter of King Hetoum bringing peace between Armenia and Tripoli, and assisted the Armenians and the Mongols in the capture of Aleppo and Damascus in 1260 AD. Antioch was lost to Baybars during his reign, in 1268AD. Obv: Cross. BOEMVNDVS COMES. Rev: Star. CIVITAS TRIPOLI. Purchased 3/1993 from Andy Singer. #3 is Bohemund VII of Tripoli 1275-87 AD. OBV: Cross. SEPTIMVS BOEMVNDVS COMES. Rev: CIVITAS TRIPOLIS SYRIE. Bohemond VII spent much of his reign at war with the Templars and the Genoese. He left no known legitimate children. This gros was the same weight as the French gros tournois. It was the last Crusader coin struck in the Holy Land. Tripoli was lost to the Mamluks in 1289, two years after his death. Purchased from Stephen Huston circa 1989. #4 is Robert d’Anjou, Kingdom of Naples and Jerusalem, though his overlordship of that city was purely nominal. He never accomplished anything in the crusading line. Also called a gigliato. 1309-1343 AD. Obv: HONOR REGIS IUDICIUM DILIGIT Rev: ROBERT DEI GRA IERL ET SICIL REX. The honor of the king delights in justice. Psalm 98:4 Vulgate. Purchased from Stephen Huston. #5 is Kingdom of Cyprus, Peter I. 1359-1369 AD. His reign was the acme of military power of the Cypriot Kingdom, capturing numerous cities of the now almost entirely Muslim dominated Levantine coast, but failing to hold any territory beyond Cyprus owing to lack of manpower and support. His coins are easily differentiated from other Cypriot kings because he clutches a sword instead of a scepter.
Cool! Coincidentally I just bought a coin that was labeled as a crusader imitation today. I haven't yet figured out whether it really is one, any thoughts gratefully received: The calligraphy does look sketchy to me, so I suspect the dealer's attribution is correct, but I don't really know.
And here a Follis of Tancred, Principality of Antioch. 1101-1112 AD. 2.45 grams, bronze. Roma Numismatics, E-sale 62 lot #1273, 17 Oct 2019 Tancred’s name is very clear. The reverse is lC XS NI KA, “Jesus Christ conquers” in Greek. While formerly it was believed Tancred was wearing a turban, and this was felt emblematic of a division between early arrivals who took on Eastern customs, and later Crusaders who remained unreconstructed barbarians, I believe the present scholarly consensus is this is merely Tancred’s long hair. Tancred’s Norman relatives ruling Sicily used the same reverse on this gold tari.
This one imitates the Damascus type of al-Salih Ayyub, 1238-1249, believed to have been struck by Crusaders at Acre. The legends are more blundered than @Parthicus' coin but the names of al-Salih and of the 'Abbasid caliph al-Mustansir are recognizable. Album 823C.
Thanks so much for the help! I'm glad I took the risk on the coin, I'm pleased it is indeed an imitation; also, I didn't have any Crusader coins from Acre. Might I add: I always appreciate you sharing your knowledge here, @dltsrq, you are a huge asset to this forum!
Wow, this is All Great and Cool Stuff!!! I can here Ancient-qua-Ancient folks saying, 'We're not in Kansas anymore.' Here's what I can do, for this minute. Mostly reiterative, but this is the right place to put it in one place. These imitative dirhams get equal time in references for crusader coins. Along with Album, you might want to look at Malloy, Coins of the Crusader States. (1994. There's a second edition, which @TheRed kindly alerted me to.) There's a whole section on "Imitative Silver Dirhams," pp. 129-40 (in the 1st edition). The first edition draws heavily from, and routinely cites Metcalf, Coinage of the Crusades and the Latin East in the Ashmolean Museum Oxford. 2nd ed., 1995. (Found a copy of this, Once, via interlibrary loan, and xeroxed the (mild expl. of choice) out of it. The library it was from never let me borrow it again.) Balog, The Coinage of the Ayyubids, 1980. Augmented by this, available for free download on Album's website: (With thanks again to @AnYangMan for referring me to Album's free download of the 3rd ed. of his Checklist http://db.stevealbum.com/php/articles.php One cool thing about the imitative dirhams is that, according to long-held consensus, they can be attributed as such because they all continue the Islamic tradition of being dated by year ...posthumously to the ostensible ruler. Here are the ones I can find pics of. The first was dated, by the seller, to 1217 CE. ...With thanks to @Hrefn for his impressive assemblage, another cool thing is that there's an unbroken line of evolutionary succession from Ayyubid dirhams to European and Crusader grossi. This happens both, and variously, in terms of the etymology and the module. First, to wallow in the obvious, the 'dirham' comes from the Classical Greek 'drachm,' whose module is loosely imitated by the Ayyubid ones. Along with Cilician Armenian trams, and Venetian grossi (sic), both from the early 13th c. (If the Byzantine trachy --very diferent composition and module-- doesn't follow the same etymological trajectory, I'll be very surprised! Betting someone like @The Trachy Enjoyer could help out here.) ...But in Europe, the Venetian grosso is the prototype of the French gros tournois, on a much broader flan, imitated as such by issues in the Crusader States and Naples. Including, thank you, the English groat, along with the grossi of Cyprus.
I actually think trachy translates from greek to “rough” or “poor”. The term in some ways is actually slang and the individuals from the time probably would have used this as an adjective to describe them. Greek history comes into play with the full title nomismata trachy. Nomismata coming from the greek word nomos or “law” https://www.doaks.org/resources/coins/glossary A very helpful glossary on Byzantine coinage terminology
Many, Many thanks for the enlightenment, @The Trachy Enjoyer! "Trachy" is duly scratched off the list! ...Apart from how easy it would be to get lost in it, the Dumbarton Oaks website is pretty incredible.
Here are two imitative dinars. #1 Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem Bezant, second phase, of fine gold, imitating a dinar of al-Amir. Acre mint, circa 1148 AD. From Stack’s auction 23 May 1990 lot #885. #2 similar Crusader bezant, also of good style. Metcalf 66ff variant. Purchased from Auctiones S.A. No.18 lot #352, in 9/1989
Another imitative coin from a Crusader state, although this time the prototype is a Venetian ducat of Andrea Dandolo. And the state is the Duchy of Achaia, a relic of the partitioning of the Byzantine empire after the conquest of Constantinople in 1204 by the forces of the Fourth Crusade. Robert d’Anjou, Duchy of Achaia 1346-64 AD. Schlumberger XII/34. Electrum. Note the “K” to the left of Christ’s foot which distinguishes these coins. Another “K” is on the obverse between AND and DANDOLO. Purchased from John Barton at Owl, Ltd in 12/1977. My first medieval gold coin.
My facility with Arabic is not good enough to say, and I would defer comment to someone like @dltsrq who is clearly more knowledgeable than I. If I can pick out Mahmoud, rasul, or Allah on an Arabic coin I usually feel self-congratulatory.
Both are dated but to my eye, only one is an obvious imitation. I could be wrong but the coin on the left appears to be an official Fatimid dinar of al-Amir Abu 'Ali al-Mansur, Misr (Egypt) mint, dated AH 501. Lovely calligraphy. Album 729. The coin on the right is clearly an imitation of similar type, "Misr, AH 506". Clumsy, blundered calligraphy. Album 730. They make a very good set for comparison! The only (intentional) difference is one word, the digit of the date.
Thank you so much, sir. The purity of the gold in the dinar on the left also appears much higher. I have often wondered if it might be an official issue.
