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| Stephen Album Rare Coins > Auction 55 | Auction date: 14 May 2026 |
| Lot number: 53 Price realized: 26,000 USD (Approx. 22,261 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: ARAB-SASANIAN: Anonymous, AR drachm (3.48g), AKWLA (al-Kufa), A-34G, Malek-12 (different dies), with muhammad rasul Allah replacing the governor's name right of the portrait, with bism Allah la ilah / illa Alla wahdahu filling ObQ2 and ObQ3 // mint name in the usual location, but undeciphered symbol or monogram replacing the date; 4th outer circle added on the reverse; exceedintly rare, only the 2nd known example! XF, RRRR. This is a newly discovered Arab-Sasanian drachm with "Muhammad Rasul Allah" instead of the ruler or governor's name before the obverse portrait, and only one of two known from the mint of AKWLA (al-Kufa). The three previously known versions (A-34D, 34E, 34F) are likely all produced during the AH70s (690s) and all are of extreme rarity. Estimate: 12000-16000 USD |  |
Match 1:
| Stephen Album Rare Coins > Auction 55 | Auction date: 14 May 2026 |
| Lot number: 57 Price realized: 14,000 USD (Approx. 11,987 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: ARAB-SASANIAN: Khusraw type, 691-693, AR dirham (3.12g), Dimashq, AH73, A-D6, cf. Malek-525, standard obverse with the name of Khusro right of the portrait, and the full Islamic statement bism Alah la ilah illa Allah muhammad rasul Allah filling the entire margin // normal reverse (fire altar & two attendants), mint name to left, date written out to right, both in Arabic; some light porosity, nearly XF, RRR. Malek-525 has the mint name right and the date left on the reverse, but most examples, including this piece and all of the 6 examples filed on CoinArchives, have the mint left and the date right. Estimate: 12000-16000 USD |  |
Match 2:
| Stephen Album Rare Coins > Auction 55 | Auction date: 14 May 2026 |
| Lot number: 60 Price realized: 3,500 USD (Approx. 2,997 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: ARAB-ARMENIAN: Anonymous, early 700s, AR zuzun (2.76g), NM, stylized year "6", A-M97, in the name of the Sasanian king Hormizd IV, with the full Shahada filling the obverse margin after the phrase bism Allah, and with the denomination ZWZWN, Aramaic for "drachm", instead of a mint name on the standard position on the reverse, excellent strike for this type, XF, RRRR. There are three genuine examples of this type with the full Shahada posted on Zeno, #96964 with the additional phrase "rabbi Allah" added on the reverse margin (sold in M&E Auction 48, Lot 1), #153562 with "rabbi Allah" instead of ZWZWN at the mint location on the reverse, and #314067, without "rabbi Allah" (sold in our Auction 46, lot 173). The full Shahada was introduced on the Arab-Sasanian coinage during the governorship of al-Hajjaj b. Yusuf (694-713), whence it seems likely that this type could not have been introduced before 694, replaced shortly afterwards by the type that replaced the name Hormizd with Muhammad (A-E97) and the Arabic word "waf" in the obverse margin, introduced circa 700. The prototype was the relatively common Sasanian-Armenian type in the name of Hormizd, usually with year "6" and the phrase ZWZWN in lieu of a mint name (e.g., Zeno-17577). Estimate: 4000-5000 USD |  |
Match 3:
| Stephen Album Rare Coins > Auction 55 | Auction date: 14 May 2026 |
| Lot number: 56 Price realized: 10,000 USD (Approx. 8,562 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: ARAB-SASANIAN: Khusraw type, 691-693, AR dirham (2.87g), Dimashq, AH72, A-D6, Malek-524, standard obverse with the name of Khusro right of the portrait, and the Islamic statement bism Alah / muhammad rasul / Allah in the margin // normal reverse (fire altar & two attendants), mint name to left, date written out to right, both in Arabic; clipped down to the post-reform Umayyad standard, VF, RRR. This is the first Islamic coin to bear the Hijri date written out in Arabic, always in Pahlavi for earlier dates. Estimate: 10000-12000 USD |  |
