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Message:: [QUOTE="EWC3, post: 3347929, member: 93416"]Sometimes perhaps - but in general no.  Sasanid coins are turning up in hoards about 200 years after 'Abd al Maliks reform.  By then very clipped and very worn.  And the official Islamic coin was also being clipped. The simple story would be that there was an official coinage - seigniorage paid - in reformed dirhems, plus a black economy paid by weight in old Sasanid coin.  But even that does not really work - since people kept on clipping the old coin down to ever lower values - and there is no point in that if you pay by weight Stefan Heidemann showed the Arab - Sas seem to be struck slightly low - about 3.9g.  And that is part of the story for sure I think.  Some old coin was clipped down to that. There seems to be a general situation where there is a mint weight but then another official lower weight - the minimum legally acceptable (actually that is normal everywhere down to the 19th century).  But when the state sets a such minimum - some guys immediately clip their coins down to that.  So its easy to see how a kind of vicious circle might set in.  I think that is part of the story too.  But the whole story is too complex for one simple explanation. Rob T[/QUOTE]