Umayyad Caliphate, Silver coinage. AR Dirham (28.2mm, 2.74 g, 4h). Risha mint. Dated AH 89 (AD 707/8). Good VF.

Islamic Auction 4 – Session 1
Lot: 33. Estimated: $ 20 000

Umayyad Silver and Bronze, Silver

Sold For $ 22 500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

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Umayyad Caliphate, Silver coinage. AR Dirham (28.2mm, 2.74 g, 4h). Risha mint. Dated AH 89 (AD 707/8). Cf. Klat 392 (as ‘Ralsa’, dated AH 90); cf. al‘Ajlan 90/98 (as ‘Ralsa’, dated AH 90). Minor staining in margins. Good VF. Of the highest rarity, apparently unpublished and believed unique.

This mint-name has long been read as Ralsa, a suggestion apparently first made by Samir Shamma who proposed that it was ‘a place in Armenia, erroneously spelled Dalsa by the mediaeval geographers’ (Bates. M., ‘Mystery Mints of the Umayyads’, ONS Occasional Paper 22, December 1987). More recently, it has been suggested that the mint-name should be read as Risha, which has been interpreted as an Arabic version of the name of the ancient city known to the Romans as Rhesaena. The name Rhesaena itself is an adaptation of the Syriac Rēš Aynā, meaning ‘head of the spring’, of which the town’s later Arabic name, Ra’s al-‘Ayn, is a literal translation. Ra’s al-‘Ayn appears as a mint-name on ‘Abbasid gold and silver coins around the close of the third century Hijri.

Numismatic support for this identification comes from comparison of dirhams of Risha with those struck at the nearby mint of Harran. Harran, the ancient Carrhae, is roughly sixty miles due west of Ra’s al-‘Ayn. Dirhams were struck in Harran in AH 87, 88 and 89, after which the mint ceased production under the Umayyads. As dirhams with the mint-name Risha were struck immediately afterwards, with examples now known dated AH 89 (the present coin), 90 and 91, it is tempting to suggest that the mint was simply moved from Harran to Risha during the year AH 89, probably in the context of the military operations then being undertaken on the Syrian frontier against the Byzantines. The style of the epigraphy on the Risha dirhams is identical with the Harran issues, both being characteristic of coins struck in the Umayyad North rather than in the East.

The final winners of all CNG Islamic Auction 4 – Session 1 lots will be determined during the live sale that will be held on 19 October 2023.

Winning bids are subject to a 22.5% buyer's fee for bids placed on this website and 25% for all others.

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