Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Electronic Auction 593 13 Aug 2025
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'Abbasid Caliphate. Jahwar ibn Marrar al-'ljli. rebel in Ray, AH 137-138 / AD 754/755-755/756. Æ Fals (23mm, 2.82 g, 12h). Ray mint. Dated AH 138 (AD 755/6 ). Lowick & Savage, 646. Miles, Numismatic History of Rayy, 41; Peus 407, 1424; Leu Web Auction 5, lot 1417; Morton & Eden 96, lpt 51. Earthen black-green patina patina. VF. Extremely rare and probably finest known.
Jahwar ibn Marrar al-'ljli was an Abbasid commander sent to Ray by the caliph Al-Mansur to suppress the rebellion of a Zoroastrian nobleman named Sunpadh. The general quickly defeated the local insurgency, but he himself then turned against the Caliph and seized the treasures he had captured from the rebels for his own army. Al-Mansur reacted to this blatant treachery by sending out an even larger army under the command of one of his most loyal supporters, Muhammad Ibn al-Ash'-ath, a brilliant general who would later become the Abbasid governor of Damascus and of Egypt. It is at this time that the hard-pressed Jahwar started issuing his own coins, but he was quickly expelled from Rayy by Muhammad and killed soon thereafter. The coinage of Jahwar ibn Marrar al-'ljli is hence of extreme rarity today, and this is only the second example to appear in a public sale in the last two decades.
Jahwar ibn Marrar al-'ljli was an Abbasid commander sent to Ray by the caliph Al-Mansur to suppress the rebellion of a Zoroastrian nobleman named Sunpadh. The general quickly defeated the local insurgency, but he himself then turned against the Caliph and seized the treasures he had captured from the rebels for his own army. Al-Mansur reacted to this blatant treachery by sending out an even larger army under the command of one of his most loyal supporters, Muhammad Ibn al-Ash'-ath, a brilliant general who would later become the Abbasid governor of Damascus and of Egypt. It is at this time that the hard-pressed Jahwar started issuing his own coins, but he was quickly expelled from Rayy by Muhammad and killed soon thereafter. The coinage of Jahwar ibn Marrar al-'ljli is hence of extreme rarity today, and this is only the second example to appear in a public sale in the last two decades.