1 Dirham - 'Izz al-Din Mas'ud I

Izz al-Din Mas'ud I ruled Mosul from 1180 to 1193, a period during which the Zengid hold on northern Iraq was increasingly precarious — Saladin had already dismantled the Syrian branch of the dynasty and was methodically tightening his grip on the region. Mas'ud managed to retain Mosul largely by negotiating vassalage rather than resisting outright, a political calculation that kept the mint active even as Zengid autonomy eroded.

Album 1863.1 distinguishes this type from related Zengid bronzes by its specific combination of figural and astral imagery, a feature of the broader "Mesopotamian dirham" tradition that flourished under Artuqid and Zengid patronage in the 12th century.