1 Dinar - Shu'ayb I ibn Umar

The Emirate of Crete was an anomalous polity — an Arab state planted in the middle of the Byzantine Aegean, founded by Andalusian exiles around 824 and persistent enough to survive until the Macedonian reconquest of 961. Shu'ayb I ibn Umar ruled during a period of continuous naval raiding from the island, with Cretan pirates operating as far as the Aegean coast of Asia Minor. Gold coinage from this emirate is exceptionally rare; the island had no indigenous gold supply and mint output was modest, dependent on plunder and trade.

A#670 places this among a tightly documented but sparsely populated series.