Dirham - Sidi Mohammed III 1st Standard, Essaouira

Sidi Mohammed III founded Essaouira in 1765 as a purpose-built Atlantic port, partly to redirect Moroccan trade away from Agadir and partly to tighten royal control over European merchants — particularly the British, French, and Danish traders he wanted dealing on his terms. The mint established there was operational almost immediately, making this dirham among the earliest coinage struck at a city that was itself only a few years old when these dies were cut.

The "1st Standard" designation marks a brief window before metrology was adjusted. Examples attributable to Essaouira's earliest mint phase turn up infrequently in Western collections.