Numismatica Genevensis SA
Auction 16 14 Nov 2022
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LE MONDE ARABE
Umayyad Caliphate
Arab-Byzantine coinage. Solidus in the name of Byzantine Emperor Phocas circa AH 60-72 (circa 679-692 CE), Dimashq (?). [D]N FOCAS - PERP AV Facing bust of Phocas / V[I]CTORIA - AVGU B Victory or angel standing facing holding long staff with looped top and globe surmounted by plain shaft. CONOB in exergue. 4,29g. Album 3548; Bernardi 1; Miles p. 207, 1.
Of considerable historical importance and of the highest quality.
The Byzantine solidus was the gold coin in universal use throughout the eastern Roman world. After the collapse of Byzantine rule in Syria the need for locally produced gold coinage prompted the caliphs to strike their own gold coinage. Several de-Christianized types (without Christian symbols) were produced, copied from the Byzantine coinage of the Emperors Phocas and Heraclius. They are the earliest gold coinage of Islam and witness the development of an original culture and iconography. On this coin, the Christian crosses have been removed from the obverse headdress and from the reverse globe. The reverse cross was also transformed as a long staff. It is likely that the extreme rarity of this coin is a result of having been withdrawn from circulation because it offended both the Byzantines and the Muslims, especially after the creation of the first purely Islamic gold coin, the Dinar in AH 77.
Umayyad Caliphate
Arab-Byzantine coinage. Solidus in the name of Byzantine Emperor Phocas circa AH 60-72 (circa 679-692 CE), Dimashq (?). [D]N FOCAS - PERP AV Facing bust of Phocas / V[I]CTORIA - AVGU B Victory or angel standing facing holding long staff with looped top and globe surmounted by plain shaft. CONOB in exergue. 4,29g. Album 3548; Bernardi 1; Miles p. 207, 1.
Of considerable historical importance and of the highest quality.
The Byzantine solidus was the gold coin in universal use throughout the eastern Roman world. After the collapse of Byzantine rule in Syria the need for locally produced gold coinage prompted the caliphs to strike their own gold coinage. Several de-Christianized types (without Christian symbols) were produced, copied from the Byzantine coinage of the Emperors Phocas and Heraclius. They are the earliest gold coinage of Islam and witness the development of an original culture and iconography. On this coin, the Christian crosses have been removed from the obverse headdress and from the reverse globe. The reverse cross was also transformed as a long staff. It is likely that the extreme rarity of this coin is a result of having been withdrawn from circulation because it offended both the Byzantines and the Muslims, especially after the creation of the first purely Islamic gold coin, the Dinar in AH 77.