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1 Fals - Anonymous Al-Sultaniyya al-Mujahidiyya
| Issuer | Sultanate of Mogadishu (Somalia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1500-1600 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Crudely struck hammered copper fals with an irregular, uneven flan characteristic of Mogadishan coinage of the period. The field bears a two-line Arabic inscription reading 'al-Sultaniyya' (the Sultanate), rendered in a somewhat informal, archaic hand. The lettering is raised in relief against a flat, unadorned field, with no border or decorative devices. The strike is off-center and the legends are partially obscured by flan irregularities and surface corrosion. The overall style is consistent with the anonymous copper coinage attributed to the Sultanate of Mogadishu in the sixteenth century. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | السلطا نية |
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| Additional information |
The Sultanate of Mogadishu was already in steep decline by the sixteenth century, squeezed by the rising Ajuran Sultanate inland and the destabilizing pressure of Portuguese naval operations along the East African coast. Anonymous copper fulus of this type were the lowest denomination in circulation — the small change of a port economy that had, in earlier centuries, impressed Ibn Battuta enough to call Mogadishu one of the largest cities in the world. By 1500, that peak was well past. Album 1176 is among the least documented issues in the entire corpus of medieval Somali coinage.