Watch List notes:

QARMATID, ALPTEKIN ABU MANSUR AL-MU'IZZI (fl. 364-367h), Dinar, Filastin 366h. OBVERSE: In field: la ilaha illa Allah | wahdahu la sharik lahu | al-Ta'i lillah | al-sayyid al-ra'is. REVERSE: In field: lillah | Muhammad rasul Allah | sali Allah 'alayhi |al-sayyid Ja'far bin al-Fadl | Abu Mansur al-Mu'izzi. WEIGHT: 4.18g. REFERENCES: Vardanyan 27; Centuries of Gold 154, same dies. CONDITION: Pierced and with edge clip, otherwise very fine and very rare. NOTE: Vardanyan's study gives a clear account of the career of Alptekin Abu Mansur al-Mu'izzi, whose name appears on both the Qarmatid coins offered in this sale (see also lot 114). He had been a commander in the Turkish guard at the Buwayhid court but became involved in a failed coup against the Buwayhid ruler 'Izz al-Dawla and subsequently fled to Syria. By 364h he was in control of Damascus, where he met and joined forces with the Qarmatids, and their combined forces took Tabariya in the following year. Lot 113 shows that by 366h Alptekin acknowledged the Qarmatid Council and also Ja'far b. al-Fadl as its leader, but following further changes within the Council's make-up later in 366h Ja'far was no longer named directly on the coinage. The unpublished dirham described below (lot 114), where Alptekin's name appears without that of a Qarmatid overlord, perhaps reflects the confused hierarchy within the Qarmatid state. Alptekin was finally defeated by a Fatimid army in 368h and taken to Egypt, where he was poisoned.

Estimate: £3,000-5000