Watch List notes:

ISLAMIC, Ayyubids. Egypt. al-Nasir I Salah al-Din Yusuf (Saladin), AH 564-589 / AD 1169-1193. Dirham (Copper, 32 mm, 11.12 g, 2 h), Mayyafariqin, 582-589 AH = 1186/7-1193 AD. Lion seated left surrounded by four stars within beaded circle; around circle, name and title of al-Nasir I Salah al-Din Yusuf. Rev. Name and titles of the Abbasid caliph al-Nasir li-Din Allah. Album 791. Balog, Ayyubids 177. Whelan 256-7. Struck on a broad flan. The reverse slightly double struck and with some deposits, otherwise, very fine.


Al-Nasir I Salah al-Din Yusuf, better known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, which ruled over Egypt and Syria for almost a century. The obverse of this issue likely shows the Leo constellation, one of the zodiac constellations.