FATIMID CALIPHS OF EGYPT
al-Âmir bi-ahkâmillâh, 495-524 AH (1101-1130 AD). Dinar 506 AH, 'Akkâ. Nicol 2510 = Qatar II 2712. 3.97 g. GOLD. Extremely rare. Only one other example known. Crude style but orthographically correct. Areas of weakness. Good very fine

According to Nicol the Fatimid coinage of 'Akkâ is attested continuously for gold until 495 H., corresponding with 1101-02 AD. 'Akkâ or Acco was conquered by the kingdom of Jerusalem in 497 H. While a Fatimid coin from this mint, dated 506 H. seems unexpected first of all an easy explanation as a crusader imitation comes to the mind of many numismatists. However a search in the historical sources for the year 506 H. reveals a highly complex situation in which this coins finds its appropriate place. In this year the king of Jerusalem Baldwin I made a serious attempt to conquer Sûr/Tyrus, which was together with 'Asqalân one of the last strongholds of Fatimid power in Palestine. In this situation the population of Sûr shifted from the Fatimid state to the lord of Damascus, the Atabeg Tughtekin, who in a clever diplomatic move acknowledged the suzerainty of the Fatimid caliph referring to the fact that the Syrian Saljuq Ridwân himself had acknowledged the Fatimid caliph for a while in the past. With the support of the Turks from Damascus the crusader siege could be ended. The Damascus chronicle of Ibn al-Qalânisî (Ta'rîkh Dimashq, ed. Suhayl Zakkâr, Damascus 1983, p. 290f) reports that when Baldwin learnt of this Damascus-Fatimid alliance he went to 'Akkâ to find that the Turks were already in the city before him. He brought himself into a position to fight them, when a Bedouin from 'Asqalân came to him to suggest a more lucrative deal by intercepting a caravan from Damascus which was on its way to Egypt. Baldwin indeed used the services of this man as a guide in return for his promise to set free a number of his relatives, which were kept as hostages by the crusaders. Pillaging the caravan turned out as a great success bringing in more than 50.000 dinars in gold and about three hundred new hostages from Damascus. How can these events be related with the numismatic evidence? Ibn al-Qalânisî explains that one of the conditions of the arrangement between Tughtekin and the Fatimid caliphate was, that the Fatimid da'wa (propaganda, here probably referring to the khutba prayers on Fridays in the mosques) and the coin dies should be continued with the name of the Fatimid as before without any change although Sûr (and 'Akkâ) came under the domination of Tughtekin. So obviously the 506 H. dinar from 'Akkâ was struck by the Damascus army in 'Akkâ, formally acknowledging the Fatimid caliph. The dies were clearly not cut in a Fatimid die cutting workshop, and the coins could be addressed as a coinage of the Burids of Damascus. In any respect Ibn al-Qalânisî gives no details how Baldwin regained the possession of 'Akkâ but he concludes that 'Akkâ was lost for Damascus as a result of the merchants from this caravan. Nicol lists only a singular specimen of this date in the National Museum of Qatar, which has been published by Ibrahim Jabir with an illustration, which suggests that only one pair of dies was used to strike the previously published and the present coin.