Dirham - Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan crowned and bearded bust

Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan ruled Hisn Kayfa from roughly 1144 to 1167, navigating the fractious politics of the Jazira during a period when Zengid pressure from Mosul and Aleppo continuously threatened Artuqid autonomy. His issues are among the earliest Artuqid copper dirhams to adopt the frontal bust format borrowed — quite deliberately — from Byzantine folles still circulating in the region, a visual strategy that spoke to a mixed population accustomed to Roman-derived imagery.

The Zeno catalogue entry 20387 places this among the better-documented die pairings for the type, though die alignment and flan preparation vary considerably across surviving examples.