Ahmad II — known formally as Abu'l-'Abbas Ahmad al-Mansur — died in 1603, the same year this piece was struck, leaving the Sa'adian dynasty to fracture immediately into civil war among his sons. The absence of a denomination on copper issues of this period reflects less a policy choice than a practical one: these pieces circulated by tale and weight in local markets, their value negotiated rather than declared.
Fes remained the older, more religiously prestigious mint; Marrakesh held political primacy. That this piece carries the Fes attribution places it squarely within the scholarly and mercantile economy of the imperial north.
Ahmad II — known formally as Abu'l-'Abbas Ahmad al-Mansur — died in 1603, the same year this piece was struck, leaving the Sa'adian dynasty to fracture immediately into civil war among his sons. The absence of a denomination on copper issues of this period reflects less a policy choice than a practical one: these pieces circulated by tale and weight in local markets, their value negotiated rather than declared.
Fes remained the older, more religiously prestigious mint; Marrakesh held political primacy. That this piece carries the Fes attribution places it squarely within the scholarly and mercantile economy of the imperial north.