Watch List notes:

TABARISTAN. 'Abbasid governors. Sulaiman, PYE 136-138. Hemidrachm (Silver, 25 mm, 1.94 g, 2 h), PYE 137. Sasanian-style bust to right, portrait replaced with a lozenge, wearing winged crown; stars flanking crown and breast ornament decorated with trefoil; in the margins: 'pd (excellent) to right and nywk' (good) to left. Rev. Sasanian-style fire altar flanked by two attendants; star and star flanking flames. Malek 102. Extremely fine.



Sulaiman, the only governor of Tabaristan to do so, held to the Koranic stricture against portraiture, substituting an abstract design contained within a lozenge for the portrait on the Sasanian-style bust.