Siege of Acre

409, Lot: 792. Estimate $50. Sold for $260. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ISLAMIC, Mamluks. al-Ashraf Salah al-Din Khalil. AH 689-693 / AD 1290-1293. AR Dirham (23mm, 3.02 g, 1h). Dimashq (Damascus) mint. [Dated AH 690 (AD 1290)]. Naskh legend: al-sultan al-malik | al-Ashraf Salah al-Dunya | wa al-Din Khalil bin (The Sultan, The Prince | The Honorable, Righteousness of the World | and the Faith, Khalil, from), continued in margin, counterclockwise from left: [Mawlana | al-Sultan | al-Malik | al-Mansur] ([Our benefactor | the Sultan | the Prince | al-Mansur]) / Central Naskh legend: [la ilah] illa Allah | Muhammad rasuluallah | [arsalahu] bi'l-huda ([There is no diety] except God | Muhammad is the messenger of God | [He sent him] with guidance); floral ornament above rasul; marginal Naskh legend, counterclockwise from the top: [duriba Dimashq | sanat | sittin | wa sitt mi'at] ([Struck in Damascus | year | ninety | and six-hundred]). Balog, Mamluk 151b (same rev. die); SICA 6, –; Album 898; ICV 970. VF, toned, typical areas of flat strike. Rare.

From the BRN Collection.

Khalil is most famous for his siege and capture of Acre (1290-1291), and for completing the expulsion of the Crusaders from the Holy Land. This coin is from the mint of Damascus, dated to the year he began the siege of Acre, and probably was struck in conjunction with this endeavor. The outer legend on the obverse is the patronymic for his father, Qala'un.