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Message:: [QUOTE="Pellinore, post: 7678615, member: 74834"][ATTACH=full]1318811[/ATTACH] 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. [ATTACH=full]1318812[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1318813[/ATTACH] 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?[/QUOTE]

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