Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Qanhari Dirham 'Damma' - Isa ibn 'Ali
| Issuer | Sind |
|---|---|
| Year | 987-1001 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Crudely struck hammered flan bearing a multi-line Arabic legend arranged in horizontal bands within a rectilinear field, characteristic of the Qanhari Damma coinage of Sind. The inscriptions, executed in an angular Kufic script, occupy the entirety of the die area with no pictorial motif. The fabric is irregular and the planchet exhibits the characteristic ragged edges typical of hand-cut silver flans of this regional issue. The relief is bold and uneven, reflecting the rudimentary minting technique employed in the Sindhi Qanhari tradition. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Reverse field displays multiple horizontal lines of Arabic Kufic inscription densely filling the flan, with no central device or border ornament. The lettering is deeply struck but irregularly aligned, consistent with the provincial hammered coinage of Sind under the Qanhari rulers. The planchet is similarly ragged and clipped at the margins, with visible flow lines and surface granularity characteristic of debased or small-module silver issues. The overall layout mirrors the obverse in its purely epigraphic character, referencing the ruling authority 'Isa ibn 'Ali. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Sind in the late tenth century was governed under the fractured remnants of Arab administrative control, with local amirs operating in increasing isolation from Abbasid authority. Isa ibn 'Ali's issues belong to this terminal phase, struck at Qandahar when the region was slipping toward Ghaznavid absorption — Mahmud of Ghazna would effectively end independent Sindhi coinage within a generation.
The damma denomination itself is a Sindhi adaptation of the Arab daniq, shrunk through centuries of local monetary practice to fractions well below standard dirhams. At 0.57g, this piece sits at the lighter end of documented damma weights.