Watch List notes:

ISLAMIC, Umayyad Caliphate. temp. 'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, AH 65-86 / AD 685-705. Drachm (Silver, 31 mm, 4.00 g, 4 h), Arab-Sasanian type, citing governor Umar ibn Ubayd Allah ibn Msmar (AH 67-72 = AD 686-691), BYŠ (Bishapur), AH 68 = AD 687/8. Draped bust resembling Khosrau II to right, wearing elaborate mural crown; behind head, AFZUT GDH ('may his kingship increase' in Pahlawi); before head, AWMR Y AWBYTALAAN ('Umar ibn Ubayd Allah' in Pahlawi); in outer margin, 'lillah al-hamd' ('praise be to God') and three pellets to left and right of one star-in-crescen. Rev. Fire altar with ribbons flanked by two attendants; in upper field to left, six-pointed star; in upper field to right, crescent; to left, date in Pahlawi; to right, BYŠ (name of the mint in Pahlawi). Album 21. Malek, Arab-Sasanian, 310. SICA I, 159. Walker, Arab-Sasanian, p. 99, 195. A sharply struck and lightly toned example. Minor edge crack, otherwise, virtually as struck.


From the collection of J. Knudsen, formed from the late 1970s to the late 1990s.