Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Islamic Auction 2 27 Oct 2022
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Umayyad Caliphate, Silver coinage. PB obverse uniface trial for a post-Reform silver dirham (24mm, 8.30 g). Without mint-name. Dated AH 78 (AD 697/8). Obverse margin:bismillah duriba hadha al-dirham fi sanat thaman wa saba'in
Obverse field:la ilaha illa / Allah wahdahu / la sharik lahu (mostly obliterated through punch-cancelling. Unpublished. Large central cancellation punch removing most of the legends in the fields (although sufficient remain to determine their reading and arrangement). Near EF. Unique.
The uniface lead trial piece offered here was, presumably, a prototype prepared for the mintless silver dirhams of AH 79, rather than a template designed for use throughout the Islamic world. As with the Arminiya dirham, the absence of mint-name again suggests that its inspiration came from the mintless Damascus gold dinars, rather than from the Arab-Sasanian drachms issued at the Umayyad capital earlier in the decade, all of which bear the mint-name as well as the date (see lots 10 and 11).
Obverse field:la ilaha illa / Allah wahdahu / la sharik lahu (mostly obliterated through punch-cancelling. Unpublished. Large central cancellation punch removing most of the legends in the fields (although sufficient remain to determine their reading and arrangement). Near EF. Unique.
The uniface lead trial piece offered here was, presumably, a prototype prepared for the mintless silver dirhams of AH 79, rather than a template designed for use throughout the Islamic world. As with the Arminiya dirham, the absence of mint-name again suggests that its inspiration came from the mintless Damascus gold dinars, rather than from the Arab-Sasanian drachms issued at the Umayyad capital earlier in the decade, all of which bear the mint-name as well as the date (see lots 10 and 11).