Baldwin & Sons
Islamic Coin Auction 25 10 December 2013
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ISLAMIC COINS. ABBASID CALIPHATE. temp. Zubayda bint Ja'far, Silver Dirham, Umm Ja'farabad 186h, obv field: la ilah illa ilah (sic)/Muhammad/al-nabi al-ummâ - "Muhammad, the (Miraculous) Unlettered Prophet", margin: mint name and date, rev field: salla al-malik/illa 'ali 'Ali/al-nabi al-Mustafa, below, vertically at 6 o'clock 'Ubayd - "Praise to the King, without equal, 'Ali, the Prophet of the Elect One" (ie Muhammad), margin: rabi' hamid majid, "my Lord, Praisworthy, Magnificent", die axis 3h, 26.5mm, 2.95g. Extremely fine and completely unrecorded.
This exceptionally beautiful and previously unrecorded Dirham is almost certainly a coin sponsored by Zubayda, the wife of the Caliph al-Rashid and mother of al-Amin Muhammad. Where the mint Umm Ja'farabad was located is unknown, but it was probably in one of her palace complexes. One clue to its location might be found in the word placed upright at 6 o'clock in the reverse field, 'Ubayd. It may have been related to her kinsman 'Ubayd Allah bin al-Mahdi, who is known to have been governor of Arran around this time, from whose silver mines, Zubayda derived much of her income.
Estimate: £8000-10,000
This exceptionally beautiful and previously unrecorded Dirham is almost certainly a coin sponsored by Zubayda, the wife of the Caliph al-Rashid and mother of al-Amin Muhammad. Where the mint Umm Ja'farabad was located is unknown, but it was probably in one of her palace complexes. One clue to its location might be found in the word placed upright at 6 o'clock in the reverse field, 'Ubayd. It may have been related to her kinsman 'Ubayd Allah bin al-Mahdi, who is known to have been governor of Arran around this time, from whose silver mines, Zubayda derived much of her income.
Estimate: £8000-10,000