Hephthalite Imitation of Salm ibn Ziyad

341, Lot: 481. Estimate $100. Sold for $475. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

HUNNIC TRIBES, Hephthalites. Before AD 700. AR Drachm (3.17 g, 3h). Imitating an AH 64 drachm of Salm ibn Ziyad from the MRW (Merv) mint. Crowned Sasanian-style bust right; no bismallah in outer margin; c/m: Sogdian legend and tamgha / Fire altar flanked by attendants; star and crescent flanking flames. For coin: cf. Walker 133-5 (for type with bismallah) and p. 82, C. 6 (for type without bismallah; Merv al-Rudh mint); cf. Album 18; CNG 60, lot 1096 (same dies); for c/m: Göbl, Dokumente, KM 79. Good VF.

In AH 61, Salm bin Ziyad was appointed Governor of Khurasan by the Umayyad caliph Yazid I. Three years later, bin Ziyad was deposed and replaced by ‘Abd Allah bin Khazim. The new governor quickly threw in his lot with the rebel faction led by bin Zubayr, dragging Khurasan into internecine conflict. Meanwhile, the Hepthalites took advantage of Arab distraction and invaded the region. In such a fractured state, Khurasan could not resist the Huns and the whole of the province fell under Hepthalite control for a brief period.

This coin and related imitations (cf. CNG 60, 1092-6 and the previous lot) were struck after the deposition of bin Ziyad in the same Khorasanian locality, by the same Sogdian speaking peoples. The group minting these imitations was plainly impartial to whether the prototype was Sasanian (with Khusro II types) or Arab-Sasanian, imitating either ‘Abd Allah bin Khazim or Salm bin Ziyad. However, the omnipresence of the tamgha and Sogdian legends (in countermark or engraveur) indicates that an association with Sogdian Hephthalite groups is the most important factor in the coins' identity.