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!
Dirham - al-Rashid
| Issuer | Abbasid Caliphate |
|---|---|
| Year | 796-798 |
| 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 | 2.94 g |
| 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) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Central field displays the Islamic profession of faith (Shahada) in three horizontal lines of Kufic Arabic script within a plain inner circle: 'la ilaha illa Allah wahdahu la sharika lahu' (there is no god but Allah alone, with no partner). The surrounding outer margin bears the mint and date legend in Kufic script, recording the striking of the dirham at al-Muhammadiyah in the year 181 AH. Two concentric linear borders frame the marginal inscription, forming the typical Abbasid epigraphic layout. The entire design is purely inscriptional with no figural or geometric motifs, conforming to the reformed coinage type established under Caliph Abd al-Malik. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Plain |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
These dirhams fall within the reign of Harun al-Rashid, whose caliphate (786–809) is often associated with the Baghdad of the Thousand and One Nights — but the mint output of this specific period reflects something more prosaic: a tightening of Abbasid monetary administration following earlier regional rebellions that had disrupted silver supply lines from Khorasan. The Abbasid dirham of this era was the dominant trade coin across a vast zone stretching from Central Asia to the Mediterranean, accepted by weight in markets that cared nothing for caliphal politics.
Album 219.9 places this among the more precisely attributable varieties of al-Rashid's prolific output, distinguished by mint and date combinations rather than design change.