Search in Feature Auction


CNG Bidding Platform

Information

Products and Services


Use Old Home Page

Feature Auction
CNG Islamic Auction 2

Lot nuber 131

'Abbasid Caliphate. temp. Al-Ma'mun. AH 199-218 / AD 813-833. AV Dinar (20mm, 4.23 g, 12h). Post-Reform type with double obverse margin. Madinat al-Salam mint. Dated AH 210 (AD 825/6). Good VF.


CNG Islamic Auction 2
Lot: 131.
 Estimated: $ 7 500

‘Abbasid Caliphate, Gold

Sold For $ 9 500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Go to Live

'Abbasid Caliphate. temp. Al-Ma'mun. AH 199-218 / AD 813-833. AV Dinar (20mm, 4.23 g, 12h). Post-Reform type with double obverse margin. Madinat al-Salam mint. Dated AH 210 (AD 825/6). Bernardi 116Jh (this date not recorded); SICA 3, 1783 (same dies). Cleaned in the past but now retoning. Good VF. Extremely rare.

In the early years of the 3/9th century, the caliph al-Ma’mun introduced a series of reforms to the ‘Abbasid precious metal coinage. We have no information about these changes from contemporary written sources, and our sole witnesses to these important events are the coins themselves. These give the impression of these reforms being a process rather than a single event, with two broad themes evident. Firstly, there was a reduction in the number of active mints, and we have an impression of a new and more centralised system being implemented. Secondly, we see a standardisation of the coins’ legends and designs, especially on the silver coinage which had evolved into a bewildering variety of types under Harun al-Rashid. Under al-Ma’mun, these were gradually replaced with a uniform design featuring a new, elegant style of calligraphy, double marginal legends on the obverse, and without the name of the caliph, his heir, or any other secular authority.

Interestingly, while the number of active dirham mints was gradually reduced during these reforms, we see the opposite happening with al-Ma’mun’s new gold coinage. Historically, the only mint-name used on ‘Abbasid dinars had been Misr, except for a rare issue with the name of Madinat al-Salam known for the year AH 198 only. But under al-Ma’mun this was increased to four mints: Madinat al-Salam, Misr, Marw, and San‘a (see lot 130), setting a pattern which was to continue under his successors, so that more than thirty gold mints were active during the caliphate of al-Muqtadir (AH 295-320).

The final winners of all CNG Islamic Auction 2 lots will be determined during the live sale that will be held on 27 October 2022.

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

We recognize that our users may have various Internet Browsers and Operating Systems. We like our visitors to have the best possible experience when using our bidding platform. However, we do recognize that it is impossible to develop applications that work identically, efficiently and effectively on all web browsers The CNG bidding platform supports the latest stable major version and stable previous version of Chrome and Firefox.