Fals - Anonymous Istakhr

Istakhr — ancient Persepolis rebuilt as a Sasanian administrative hub — retained its mint function well into Umayyad rule, though the caliphate's sweeping monetary reform of 696–698 under Abd al-Malik formally abolished Sasanian-derived coinage types. Anonymous copper fals like this one existed in a regulatory grey zone: the reform standardized gold and silver but left local copper issues largely ungoverned, allowing provincial mints to continue striking with minimal caliphal oversight. Istakhr's mint output drops sharply in the archaeological record after roughly 720, making later issues from this series considerably scarcer than early post-conquest pieces.