| Baldwin's Auctions Ltd > Auction C24003 | Auction date: 19 March 2024 |
| Lot number: 34 Price realized: 3,200 GBP (Approx. 4,068 USD / 3,746 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Umayyad, temp. Sulayman (AH 96?99 / 715?717 AD), silver Dirham, AH 97 / 715/6 AD, al?Madinat al-Atiqa, 2.95g (Klat 579). Very Fine, slightly wavy flan. Extremely rare mint, one year type. Al?Madinat al?'Atiqa, meaning 'the ancient city', was the name given by the Umayyads to the ancient Sasanian city of Ctesiphon. It is geographically the closest Umayyad dirham mint to the great Abbasid foundation of Madinat al?Salam. Only three examples known on Coin Archives. The mint was active only in one year, AH 97. Estimate: 2000 - 2500 GBP |  |
Match 1:
| Leu Numismatik AG > Web Auction 28 | Auction date: 9 December 2023 |
| Lot number: 5692 Price realized: 35 CHF (Approx. 40 USD / 37 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: ISLAMIC, Umayyad Caliphate. temp. Suleiman ibn 'Abd al-Malik, AH 96-99 / AD 715-717. Dirham (Silver, 26 mm, 2.47 g, 12 h), Istakhr, AH 97 = 715/6. 'lā ilāha illā / Allāh waḥdahū / lā sharīka lahū' ('There is no deity but Allah, the One, there is no partner to Him' in Arabic); in the margin: 'bism Allāh ḍuriba hādhā al-dirham bi Iṣṭakhr fī sana sabʿ wa tisʿīn' ('In the name of Allah. This dirham was struck in Istakhr in the year 97' in Arabic). Rev. 'Allāh aḥad Allāh / al-ṣamad lam yalid wa / lam yūlad wa lam yakun / lahū kufuwan aḥad' ('Allah is One, Allah is Absolute, He begets not, nor is He begotten, and none is like Him' in Arabic; Qurʾān 112: 1-4); in the margin: 'Muḥammad rasūl Allāh arsalahū bi al-hudā wa dīn al-ḥaqq liyuẓhirahū ʿalā al-dīn kullih wa law kariha al-mushrikūn' ('Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. He sent him with guidance and the religion of truth, so that He may make it overcome all religions, even though the unbelievers may dislike it' in Arabic). Album 131. Areas of weakness and with some scratches and deposits, otherwise, about very fine. Starting price: 25 CHF |  |
Match 2:
| Classical Numismatic Group > Islamic Auction 5 | Auction date: 18 April 2024 |
| Lot number: 148 Price realized: 55,000 USD (Approx. 51,623 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Fatimids. al-Mustansir billah. AH 427-487 / AD 1036-1094. AV Dinar (20.6mm, 3.26 g, 4h). Madinat Rasul Allah (Medina) mint. Dated AH 450 (AD 1059), month of Dhu'l-Hijja. Obverse margin: Bismillah al-rahman al-rahim duriba hadha al-dinar bi-Madinat Rasul Allah min Dhu'l-Hijja sanat khamsin wa arba' mi'at. In field: al-Imam / Ma'add Abu Tamim / al-Mustansir billah / amir al-mu'minin / Reverse margin: Muhammad rasul Allah arsulahu bi'l-huda...al-mushrikun (Qur'an ix:33). In field: 'Ali / la ilaha illa Allah / wahdahu la sharik lahu / Muhammad rasul Allah / wali Allah. Nicol -; cf. Morton & Eden auction 92 (26 April 2018), lot 97 = Baldwin's Islamic Auction 19 (25 April 2012), lot 106 (same dies). Minor marks, slightly wavy flan. Good VF. Excessively rare, an historically important coin. Madinat Rasul Allah, 'The City of God's Messenger' is perhaps the rarest mint-place in the entire Fatimid series. Only three or four dinars from this mint are known today. It is generally accepted that the name is an honorific title for Madina al-Munawara itself, and writing more than seventy years ago George Miles simply stated Madinat Rasul Allah (=Medina)', without qualification or any mention of alternative suggestions (Miles, G.C., (Fatimid Coins: ANS NNM 121, 1951). We can only conjecture why Fatimid dinars should have been struck at Madina al-Munawara in the year AH 450, but there is probably a connection with the activities of the founder of the Sulayhid dynasty in Yemen, 'Ali b. Muhammad al-Sulayhi. Born a Sunni, al-Sulayhi became an Isma'ili convert and it seems that by the late 420s he was already the amir al-hajj,, responsible protecting pilgrims travelling through Yemen en route for Makka. In AH 439 al-Sulayhi summoned his followers to the mountain of Jabal Masar, where he announced his intention to establish a Shi'ite state in Yemen. Unsurprisingly, the Fatimid caliph al-Mustansir gave his endorsement to the new movement, and al-Sulayhi embarked on a series of campaigns against other Muslim rulers in the region. By AH 454 the whole of Yemen was under al-Sulayhi's control – including Makka, which al-Sulayhi visited personally when undertaking the Pilgrimage. It is also known that al-Mustansir was named in the khutba in Mecca in this year, by which time the local nobility of the city had already acknowledged Fatimid overlordship. Thus while this remarkable dinar cannot be linked to any single historical event, there is ample evidence for Fatimid influence in the Holy Places around the time of its striking. Estimate: 75000 USD |  |
Match 3:
| Leu Numismatik AG > Web Auction 28 | Auction date: 9 December 2023 |
| Lot number: 5691 Price realized: 95 CHF (Approx. 108 USD / 100 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: ISLAMIC, Umayyad Caliphate. temp. Suleiman ibn 'Abd al-Malik, AH 96-99 / AD 715-717. Pashiz (Bronze, 17 mm, 1.81 g, 1 h), Arab-Sasanian type, mint illegible, AH 97 = 715/6. Draped bust wearing earrings and an unusual hairdress facing; to left, 'lwb'k', i.e. 'rawāg' ('current' in Pahlavi); to right, illegible mint name in Pahlavi. Rev. Pahlavi legend in four lines, consisting of an illegible word (name of the governor?), followed by 'ŠNT / 90 / 7', i.e. 'sāl 97' ('Year 97' in Pahlavi). Album 49K. Gyselen 89. Extremely rare. Slightly rough, otherwise, very fine. Starting price: 25 CHF |  |
Match 4:
| Classical Numismatic Group > Islamic Auction 5 | Auction date: 18 April 2024 |
| Lot number: 21 Price realized: 14,000 USD (Approx. 13,140 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Umayyad Caliphate, Silver coinage. AR Dirham (25.6mm, 2.57 g, 10h). Bazija Khusra mint. Dated AH 79 (AD 698/9). Klat 155; al-'Ajlan p. 94, no. 36 (mint incorrectly read as 'Zija Khusra'). VF, lightly toned. Excessively rare. One of the rarest Umayyad mints, the correct reading of this mint-name has been the source of some confusion. In his 1990 Study of the Earliest Coinage of the Islam Empire, Shams-Eshragh published it as 'Zijakhusraw', without the initial 'b' and with an erroneous final 'w'. Al-'Ajlan, following Diler (Islamic Mints), gives the reading as 'Zijakhusra', following Shams-Eshragh's reading but with the second element correctly read as 'Khusra', with a final alif, rather than 'Khusraw' with a waw. Both appear to have mistaken the initial 'b' of the mint-name for the preposition bi-. In fact, as the present coin clearly shows, the mint legend is to be read as hadha al-dirham bi-Bazījā Khusrā fi sanat..., confirming that the Klat was correct to give the mint-name as Bazija Khusra. According to Le Strange, Bazija Khusra was the name of an administrative district in Iraq. It lay to the east of the Tigris, roughly thirty miles to the north of the future site of Baghdad. Its sole appearance in the coinage record is as a short-lived Umayyad silver mint, known to have been active only in AH 79 and 82. Many of the first post-Reform dirham mints were established where Arab-Sasanian drachms had previously been issued, but no Arab-Sasanian mint signature has been identified with Bazija Khusra and we are left to conclude that this mint must have been new foundation, opened in AH 79 when this coin was struck. Estimate: 20000 USD |  |
Match 5:
| Leu Numismatik AG > Web Auction 29 | Auction date: 24 February 2024 |
| Lot number: 2887 Price realized: 380 CHF (Approx. 431 USD / 399 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: ISLAMIC, Umayyad Caliphate. temp. Suleiman ibn 'Abd al-Malik, AH 96-99 / AD 715-717. Dinar (Gold, 20 mm, 4.27 g, 5 h), without mint name, AH 98 = AD 716/7. In inner field: 'no God but Allah, He is alone, He has no associate' (in Kufic); in inner margin: 'Muhammad is the messenger of Allah who sent him with guidance and the religion of truth that he might make it supreme over all other religions' (in Kufic). Rev. In inner field: 'Allah is One, Allah is eternal, He does not beget nor is He begotten' (in Kufic); in inner margin: 'in the name of Allah this dinar was struck in the year eight and ninety' (in Kufic). SICA II, 132. Some graffiti, otherwise, about extremely fine. Ex Leu Web Auction 14, 12-13 December 2020, 1833 and previously from a European collection, formed before 2005. Starting price: 75 CHF |  |
