ISLAMIC, Umayyad Caliphate. 'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, AH 65-86 / AD 685-705. Seal (Lead, 28 mm, 12.29 g). لعبد الملك أمير المؤمنين ('Li Abd Al-Malik Amir al-Mou'minin' = 'For Abd Al Malik, Commander of the Faithful' in Kufic). Rev. Latticework design. A very important seal of great interest. Minor deposits, otherwise, very fine.
'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan was the fifth Umayyad Caliph and the first to introduce a genuinely Islamic gold coinage, replacing thereby the Byzantine Solidi and Sasanian Dinars which were still widely circulating in the early decades of the Islamic conquests. The Caliph also likely ordered to build the famous Dome of the Rock at the center of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.