Morton & Eden Ltd
Auction 69 10 April 2014
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UMAYYAD, TEMP. AL-WALID I (86-96h)
Dinar, Ma'din Amir al-Mu'minin 91h
OBVERSE: In field: la ilaha illa | Allah wahdahu | la sharik lahu | Ma'din Amir | al-Mu'minin
REVERSE: Standard Umayyad type with date legend in margin
WEIGHT: 4.28g
REFERENCES: Bernardi 47 = SICA 10, 485-486 (same obverse dies); Miles, G.C., 'A unique Umayyad dinar of 91 H. / A.D. 709-10,' Revue Numismatique 14 (1972), pp. 264-268, same obverse die
CONDITION: Light graffiti but generally good very fine, extremely rare and of high historical importance
NOTE: Umayyad gold dinars from the 'Mine of the Commander of the Faithful' remain among the most coveted, intriguing and historically significant of all Islamic gold coins. Examples dated 89h, 92h and 105h have been sold in these rooms previously (the unique coin of 89h on 23 April 2012 and the other two pieces on 4 April 2011), but this is believed to be the first specimen dated 91h to be offered at public auction.
Remarkably, the same obverse die with the additional Ma'din Amir al-Mu'minin legend was used to strike coins in 89h, 91h and 92h. Its calligraphy, fabric and general style all recall standard Umayyad dinars struck in Damascus, and the reverse die used on this specimen can be matched with regular dinars of the same year (cf. CNG Electronic Auction 273, 8 February 2012, lot 502). Other combinations between this special obverse die and standard reverse dies have also been found for coins struck in the following year.
The significance of the Ma'din inscription is still debated but, as previously argued, there is much to be said for the simplest explanation: that it refers to a mine belonging to the caliph. That being so, it is unlikely to be a mint-name – one would expect to find this in the margin with the date, and to judge by other Umayyad mint-names minting was normally carried out in cities rather than at the mine itself. Instead, it seems more plausible that this inscription relates to the source of the gold, indicating that it came from a mine owned by the caliph himself. This in turn raises several interesting questions. Did gold from the caliph's personal mines then have a different status from gold obtained from other sources? Was this gold somehow treated differently from gold brought to the mint through tax revenues or by private individuals?
It has been plausibly suggested that 'Mine of the Commander of the Faithful' dinars may have been struck at a travelling mint which accompanied the caliph. If this was staffed by workers from the Damascus mint using their usual tools and equipment, one would expect the coins they produced to look identical whether struck in the capital or on the road. But as the reverse die used for this coin was also used to strike standard dinars, it must have been physically in Damascus for at least part of its working life. Furthermore, because the reverse die carries the date – 91h – it can only have been used during this year. So if the die did leave Damascus with a travelling mint, it cannot have been in use at a location away from the capital for more than a few months at most.
On the other hand, the obverse die with the Ma'din Amir al-Mu'minin legend was shared between coins struck over a period of at least four years. Clearly this special die was not considered redundant at the year's end, but was kept for future use when a particular issue of these coins had been struck. For a single die to survive for four years also suggests that these 'Mine of the Commander of the Faithful' dinars must have been produced in very small numbers, which is consistent with their great rarity today.
Where, then, might the caliph's mines have been located? The legend Ma'din Amir al-Mu'minin bi'l-Hijaz found on dinars of 105h, together with the fact that the Umayyad caliph 'Umar is recorded as having purchased a plot of land containing a gold mine in the Hejaz area (Miles, op. cit., p.266), has led scholars to suggest that the gold used to strike these earlier dinars also came from the Hejaz. It has also been proposed that the caliph might have visited mines in this area while travelling to the Holy Places. In his catalogue of the Turath Collection, Ilisch suggested that 'a travelling "court mint", dependent on the main mint and Damascus and working for the caliphal private treasury...was in operation on several occasions: in connection with the construction work for the great mosque in Medina (built...in 88-91 A.H.) [and] during the visit of the caliph al-Walid to Medina in 91/92 A.H., when he led the Hajj.'
For further discussion of this coinage and a specialist bibliography, please see Morton and Eden auction 48, 4 April 2011 where two other 'Mine of the Commander of the Faithful' dinars were sold, dated 92h (sold for £648000) and 105h (sold for £3,720000).
Estimate: £300000 - 400000
Dinar, Ma'din Amir al-Mu'minin 91h
OBVERSE: In field: la ilaha illa | Allah wahdahu | la sharik lahu | Ma'din Amir | al-Mu'minin
REVERSE: Standard Umayyad type with date legend in margin
WEIGHT: 4.28g
REFERENCES: Bernardi 47 = SICA 10, 485-486 (same obverse dies); Miles, G.C., 'A unique Umayyad dinar of 91 H. / A.D. 709-10,' Revue Numismatique 14 (1972), pp. 264-268, same obverse die
CONDITION: Light graffiti but generally good very fine, extremely rare and of high historical importance
NOTE: Umayyad gold dinars from the 'Mine of the Commander of the Faithful' remain among the most coveted, intriguing and historically significant of all Islamic gold coins. Examples dated 89h, 92h and 105h have been sold in these rooms previously (the unique coin of 89h on 23 April 2012 and the other two pieces on 4 April 2011), but this is believed to be the first specimen dated 91h to be offered at public auction.
Remarkably, the same obverse die with the additional Ma'din Amir al-Mu'minin legend was used to strike coins in 89h, 91h and 92h. Its calligraphy, fabric and general style all recall standard Umayyad dinars struck in Damascus, and the reverse die used on this specimen can be matched with regular dinars of the same year (cf. CNG Electronic Auction 273, 8 February 2012, lot 502). Other combinations between this special obverse die and standard reverse dies have also been found for coins struck in the following year.
The significance of the Ma'din inscription is still debated but, as previously argued, there is much to be said for the simplest explanation: that it refers to a mine belonging to the caliph. That being so, it is unlikely to be a mint-name – one would expect to find this in the margin with the date, and to judge by other Umayyad mint-names minting was normally carried out in cities rather than at the mine itself. Instead, it seems more plausible that this inscription relates to the source of the gold, indicating that it came from a mine owned by the caliph himself. This in turn raises several interesting questions. Did gold from the caliph's personal mines then have a different status from gold obtained from other sources? Was this gold somehow treated differently from gold brought to the mint through tax revenues or by private individuals?
It has been plausibly suggested that 'Mine of the Commander of the Faithful' dinars may have been struck at a travelling mint which accompanied the caliph. If this was staffed by workers from the Damascus mint using their usual tools and equipment, one would expect the coins they produced to look identical whether struck in the capital or on the road. But as the reverse die used for this coin was also used to strike standard dinars, it must have been physically in Damascus for at least part of its working life. Furthermore, because the reverse die carries the date – 91h – it can only have been used during this year. So if the die did leave Damascus with a travelling mint, it cannot have been in use at a location away from the capital for more than a few months at most.
On the other hand, the obverse die with the Ma'din Amir al-Mu'minin legend was shared between coins struck over a period of at least four years. Clearly this special die was not considered redundant at the year's end, but was kept for future use when a particular issue of these coins had been struck. For a single die to survive for four years also suggests that these 'Mine of the Commander of the Faithful' dinars must have been produced in very small numbers, which is consistent with their great rarity today.
Where, then, might the caliph's mines have been located? The legend Ma'din Amir al-Mu'minin bi'l-Hijaz found on dinars of 105h, together with the fact that the Umayyad caliph 'Umar is recorded as having purchased a plot of land containing a gold mine in the Hejaz area (Miles, op. cit., p.266), has led scholars to suggest that the gold used to strike these earlier dinars also came from the Hejaz. It has also been proposed that the caliph might have visited mines in this area while travelling to the Holy Places. In his catalogue of the Turath Collection, Ilisch suggested that 'a travelling "court mint", dependent on the main mint and Damascus and working for the caliphal private treasury...was in operation on several occasions: in connection with the construction work for the great mosque in Medina (built...in 88-91 A.H.) [and] during the visit of the caliph al-Walid to Medina in 91/92 A.H., when he led the Hajj.'
For further discussion of this coinage and a specialist bibliography, please see Morton and Eden auction 48, 4 April 2011 where two other 'Mine of the Commander of the Faithful' dinars were sold, dated 92h (sold for £648000) and 105h (sold for £3,720000).
Estimate: £300000 - 400000