Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;TTerrier, post: 5002312, member: 76835&quot;]Here is a imitative dirham of al-Zahir Ghazi, the third son of Saladin.&nbsp; These imitations are unusual in that they could pass for the real thing except for the dates - this one is dated AH629 - per Paul Balog in &quot;The Coinage of Ayyubids&quot;&nbsp; what happened was the crusaders on the Syrian coast began to imitate the Ayyubid coins, and effectively froze the design while continuing to change the date.</p><p><br /></p><p>These six-pointed star coins take the form of name, title and date on the obverse and the name of the caliph and overlord on the reverse.&nbsp; The problem (as explained by Balog) is that the purported issuer (al-Zahir Ghazi) died in AH613, the caliph al-Nasir in AH622 and the overlord al-&#039;Adil Abu Bakr in AH615.&nbsp; There is also a record of the successor to al-Zahir Ghazi (his son al-&#039;Aziz Muhammad) issuing coins during this time period which makes it seem unlikely that the same mint would also continue issuing coins of his father.</p><p><br /></p><p>I don&#039;t speak or read Arabic but I&#039;ve tried to illustrate the text on the coins as well using various references.&nbsp; Corrections welcome!&nbsp; Note that &quot;Muhammad&quot; on the reverse was not well struck so I simply included a dot of the reference color.</p><p><br /></p><p>I really enjoy medieval Mondays - keep the coins coming!</p><p><br /></p><p>Imitative dirham of al-Zahir Ghazi</p><p>2.94gm, 19mm</p><p>Date AH629 (c.1231 AD)</p><p>Minted in Halab (Aleppo today)</p><p>Balog 652, Album 836, cf. Zeno #134701</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1200721[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1200722[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1200723[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1200724[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in