Watch List notes:

ISLAMIC, Umayyad Caliphate. temp. 'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, AH 65-86 / AD 685-705. Pashiz (Bronze, 20 mm, 0.77 g, 6 h), Anonymous Arab-Sasanian type, Bishapur, circa AH 71-91 = AD 690-710. Draped Janiform bust, wearing winged crown surmounted by crescent; to left, GDH ('kingship' in Pahlawi); to right, 'PZ'Y ('Abzay' in Pahlawi); in the outer margin, Gyselen countermarks IV ('raj' in Kufic) and XI (pellet-in-circle and crescent). Rev. Gopatshah standing right, wearing the crown of Khosrau II; before, six-pointed star and the Pahlawi letter p. Album 44. Gyselen 6. SICA I, 501. Rare. Very fine.


Gopatshah is a fabulous beast in Persian mythology: it has the body of a a bull and the head of a human.