Dirham - al-Saffah

Abu al-Abbas al-Saffah was the first Abbasid caliph, having overthrown the Umayyad dynasty in 750 AD in one of the most violent transfers of power in early Islamic history — the Abbasids systematically hunted down and killed virtually every Umayyad prince they could find. His reign lasted only four years before his death from smallpox in 754. Dirhams struck under his name are consequently among the scarcer issues of the early Abbasid series.

Album 211 dirhams continue the epigraphic kufic style inherited from late Umayyad coinage, with mint and date critical for attribution within this short reign.