Watch List notes:

ISLAMIC, 'Abbasid Caliphate. Al-Mustakfi, AH 333-334 / AD 944-946. Dirham (Silver, 25 mm, 4.66 g, 4 h), citing the caliph al-Mustakfi and the great military leader Tuzun as al-Muzaffar Abu al-Wafa, Antakiya, AH 333 = AD 944/5. SICA IV, -. Very rare. Minor flan faults, otherwise, about very fine.


Tuzun was a Turkish slave-soldier who made an astonishing military career within the Abbasid administration. After defeating the Hamdanids and driving them out of Madinat al-Salam in AD 943, Tuzun was named amir al-umara ('The Emir of Emirs' in Arabic) by the caliph.