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Fals - al-Nāṣir Muhammad I
| Issuer | Mamluk Sultanate |
|---|---|
| Year | 1299-1309 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Dinar (1250-1517) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Central field occupied by a multi-line Arabic inscription in Naskh or Thuluth script, arranged in horizontal registers within a plain linear border. The legend bears the titulature and name of Sultan al-Nāṣir Muhammad I. The die-struck lettering is bold but somewhat irregular, consistent with the hammered production technique typical of Mamluk copper coinage. Surfaces show characteristic flan irregularities and patination. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Reverse field displays a multi-line Arabic inscription in horizontal registers, heavily worn and partially legible due to the rough copper flan and corrosion typical of low-denomination Mamluk fals coinage. The legends likely contain pious formulae and/or mint and date information consistent with the type. The overall die work is utilitarian in character, with irregular flan edges and surface encrustation obscuring portions of the field. |
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| Additional information |
Al-Nāṣir Muhammad ibn Qalawun held the sultanate three separate times — a political oddity produced by the Mamluk system's chronic instability, where real power typically resided with senior amirs rather than the nominal sultan. This fals falls within his first reign, when he was still a child figurehead manipulated by the amir Kitbugha and later Lājīn, who each displaced him before he eventually consolidated genuine authority during his third reign after 1310.
Copper fulus of this period circulated at the lowest level of the Mamluk economy, used for small market transactions entirely beneath the silver dirham tier. The Bal II#215 type is among the more readily attributed issues from this contested first reign.