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Buqsha - al-Mahdi 'Abd Allah
| Issuer | Yemeni Zaidi State |
|---|---|
| Year | 1818-1834 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Buqsha (1⁄80) |
| 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 |
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| Obverse description | Crude hammered field bearing multiple lines of Arabic script arranged horizontally across the flan, typical of Yemeni Zaidi billon coinage of the early nineteenth century. The legends, struck on an irregular planchet, occupy the full face of the coin with little remaining field visible. The script is boldly raised but irregularly distributed due to the hand-struck technique, with portions of the legend occasionally running off the flan edge. The overall style is characteristic of provincial Islamic hammered coinage, with no decorative border or additional ornamental devices. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Arabic |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
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| Additional information |
Al-Mahdi Abd Allah ruled the Zaidi imamate through a period of persistent Ottoman pressure and internal tribal fragmentation. The billon coinage of this reign reflects genuine monetary stress — the debased alloy was not an aberration but a practical response to chronic silver shortages that had plagued the highland Yemeni economy since the eighteenth century. Zaidi mints of this era operated intermittently, and output was irregular enough that dating individual issues to specific years within the reign remains difficult.