I am back with another coin that needs identifying. My guesses are somewhere central Asia or mongol islamic tribes. Any help? The obverse has the standard islamic kalima written on it. Not sure about the text inside the hexagram.
Nice find ! Most of what you need for attribution is quite clear within the octagram. At the top, which looks like an ornament, is the mintname "Balkh". Below that "al-Sultan al-a/'zam Baha al-d/unya wa al-D/in Sam bin Muhammad" So this is a fals, or billon dirham, issued under the name of Baha al-Din Sam bin Muhammad, of the Ghorids of Bamiyan, after his conquest of the city of Balkh.
Bless you for the quick and detailed ID. I need to polish my skills of reading the caligraphic legends on these.
We may possible even get a bit more specific. In the margin of the side in your second photo seems to be part of a date. I would guess this to be [5]96AH (1200AD). Which would fit nicely, as the Ghorids conquered Balkh in 594AH. Soon after, the city was lost again to the Khwarezmshah in 1208AD.
So this coin would be of Baha al-Din Sam II. Im curious as to the partial date you are seeing on the margin, is it written in Arabic script like the caliphate dirhams do in the margins?
Yes, the date formula usually is similar to that on the Abbasid dirhams. However, often the margin does not name the mint but just gives "fi shuhur sanat.." "[minted] in the months of the year". Next to your fingernail seems to fit best with "وتسعين" "and ninety". The part before is largely off flan and at first seemed to end with another "wa", but that would be odd. Counting out possibities "ستة" could be the best fit, so "96". But as you have the coin in hand, it will be easier for you to decide on that. Here just some other Baha al-Din specimen:
