Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1 Fals - Muhammad al-'Adil al-Zaffir
| Issuer | Sultanate of Mogadishu |
|---|---|
| Year | 1401-1500 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | A#1176G |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Arabic legend disposed in multiple lines across the reverse field, reading 'al-zafir bi-ta'yid al-rahman', meaning 'the Victorious, aided by the Merciful', a pious epithet of the ruler. The inscription is struck in a similarly rough, informal style consistent with the obverse, characteristic of the small hammered copper coinage of the Mogadishu Sultanate. The flan is irregular and slightly concave, with weak areas of strike visible toward the periphery. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | ND (1401-1500) |
| Additional information |
The Sultanate of Mogadishu operated as a prosperous Indian Ocean entrepôt through the fifteenth century, controlling trade routes that connected the East African coast to Arabia, Persia, and the Gujarat ports. Its coinage is among the least documented of any medieval Islamic sultanate — surviving specimens are genuinely rare, and the attribution sequence for rulers of this dynasty remains contested among specialists. Muhammad al-'Adil al-Zaffir is known almost exclusively through his coins; no chronicle names him with confidence.
At 0.42 g, this fals sits at the extreme low end of the denomination's weight range across the broader Islamic world.