Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Islamic Auction 3 27 Apr 2023
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Umayyad Caliphate, Silver coinage. AR Dirham (26.9mm, 2.81 g, 7h). Dard mint. Dated AH 93 (AD 711/2). Klat 303 (same dies as illustration); al-'Ajlan p. 172, 20; SCC -. Cleaned. Good VF. Extremely rare, only three specimens recorded by Klat.
It was long thought that the mint-name 'Dard' might be a blundered version of the well-known mint-name Darabjird. In Arabic, bi-Darabjird, 'at Darabjird', would be written ﺑﺪﺭﺑﺠﺭﺩ , with two visually similar triplets of joined consonants before the final d, and it was suspected that the engraver might have omitted the second by haplography. In 2008, however, an Umayyad dirham dated AH 79 came to light on which the mint-name was unambiguously written as 'Dard' (Baldwin's Islamic Auction 14, lot 25), and this would certainly support the view that 'Dard' represents a different locality which has yet to be identified.
Some further support for this view comes from the fact that that all surviving dirhams of Dard dated AH 93 appear to have two pellets below fi in the obverse mint/date legend. Similar pellets are known on other Umayyad dirhams, including issues of Marw struck in AH 99, 100 and 101, but are not found on dirhams from Darabjird.
It was long thought that the mint-name 'Dard' might be a blundered version of the well-known mint-name Darabjird. In Arabic, bi-Darabjird, 'at Darabjird', would be written ﺑﺪﺭﺑﺠﺭﺩ , with two visually similar triplets of joined consonants before the final d, and it was suspected that the engraver might have omitted the second by haplography. In 2008, however, an Umayyad dirham dated AH 79 came to light on which the mint-name was unambiguously written as 'Dard' (Baldwin's Islamic Auction 14, lot 25), and this would certainly support the view that 'Dard' represents a different locality which has yet to be identified.
Some further support for this view comes from the fact that that all surviving dirhams of Dard dated AH 93 appear to have two pellets below fi in the obverse mint/date legend. Similar pellets are known on other Umayyad dirhams, including issues of Marw struck in AH 99, 100 and 101, but are not found on dirhams from Darabjird.