Fals - temp. al-Mansur Balkh

Al-Mansur's copper coinage from Balkh belongs to a deliberate administrative push in the 760s to extend Abbasid monetary reach into Khurasan and Transoxiana following the consolidation of power after the revolution of 750. Balkh, ancient capital of Bactria and a major node on routes into Central Asia, was precisely the kind of provincial mint al-Mansur needed functioning to supply small-change to garrisoned cities. Copper fals were struck locally because bronze fractions couldn't be shipped economically from Iraq.

Al-Mansur is also the caliph who founded Baghdad in 762 — five years before this piece was struck — and the administrative reorganization that project demanded extended to mint policy across the eastern provinces.