Dirham - Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan vested bust, winged figure to right

Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan ruled Hisn Kayfa from roughly 1148 to 1174, and the Artuqids of this branch were unusual among contemporary Anatolian dynasties for their sustained interest in figurative imagery on copper coinage — a tradition borrowed heavily from late antique and Byzantine prototypes still circulating in the region. The winged figure type draws on Hellenistic intermediaries that had survived centuries of transmission through Byzantine and Syriac artistic channels.

Copper dirhams of this Artuqid branch were local market currency, not prestige issues, and circulated hard in the upper Tigris towns. Specimens with this much original surface are genuinely scarce.