Baldwin's of St. James's
Auction 4 9 May 2017
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Islamic Coins, Asian imitation, dirham, Samarqand 103h (sic), wt. 3.64gms, double struck, very fine, very rare
At first glance this is a very plausible Islamic dirham, but it bears features which suggest another but unknown origin. First of all, the obverse field contains the congratulatory words bakh bakh ("bravo bravo"), which on genuine Islamic coins always appears in the reverse field. The date 103h is totally impossible and should actually be circa 301h, and the location of the mint could not have been Samarqand, but somewhere elsewhere in the east. Unfortunately, the word in the lower reverse field is illegible due to double striking. This is a delightful numismatic curiosity. (150 - 200 GBP)
At first glance this is a very plausible Islamic dirham, but it bears features which suggest another but unknown origin. First of all, the obverse field contains the congratulatory words bakh bakh ("bravo bravo"), which on genuine Islamic coins always appears in the reverse field. The date 103h is totally impossible and should actually be circa 301h, and the location of the mint could not have been Samarqand, but somewhere elsewhere in the east. Unfortunately, the word in the lower reverse field is illegible due to double striking. This is a delightful numismatic curiosity. (150 - 200 GBP)