Islamic Auction 5 - Session 1
Date: 2024-04-18 00:00:00
Lots: 199
Total starting: $ 0.00
Total realized: $ 0.00 (+0.00%)
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Classical Numismatic Group, LLC - Islamic Auction 5 - Session 1 . 148
Fatimids. al-Mustansir billah. AH 427-487 / AD 1036-1094. AV Dinar (20.6mm, 3.26 g, 4h). Madinat Rasul Allah (Medina) mint. Dated AH 450 (AD 1059), month of Dhu'l-Hijja. Obverse margin: Bismillah al-rahman al-rahim duriba hadha al-dinar bi-Madinat Rasul Allah min Dhu'l-Hijja sanat khamsin wa arba' mi'at. In field: al-Imam / Ma'add Abu Tamim / al-Mustansir billah / amir al-mu'minin / Reverse margin: Muhammad rasul Allah arsulahu bi'l-huda...al-mushrikun (Qur'an ix:33). In field: 'Ali / la ilaha illa Allah / wahdahu la sharik lahu / Muhammad rasul Allah / wali Allah. Nicol -; cf. Morton & Eden auction 92 (26 April 2018), lot 97 = Baldwin's Islamic Auction 19 (25 April 2012), lot 106 (same dies). Minor marks, slightly wavy flan. Good VF. Excessively rare, an historically important coin. Madinat Rasul Allah, 'The City of God's Messenger' is perhaps the rarest mint-place in the entire Fatimid series. Only three or four dinars from this mint are known today. It is generally accepted that the name is an honorific title for Madina al-Munawara itself, and writing more than seventy years ago George Miles simply stated Madinat Rasul Allah (=Medina)', without qualification or any mention of alternative suggestions (Miles, G.C., (Fatimid Coins: ANS NNM 121, 1951). We can only conjecture why Fatimid dinars should have been struck at Madina al-Munawara in the year AH 450, but there is probably a connection with the activities of the founder of the Sulayhid dynasty in Yemen, 'Ali b. Muhammad al-Sulayhi. Born a Sunni, al-Sulayhi became an Isma'ili convert and it seems that by the late 420s he was already the amir al-hajj,, responsible protecting pilgrims travelling through Yemen en route for Makka. In AH 439 al-Sulayhi summoned his followers to the mountain of Jabal Masar, where he announced his intention to establish a Shi'ite state in Yemen. Unsurprisingly, the Fatimid caliph al-Mustansir gave his endorsement to the new movement, and al-Sulayhi embarked on a series of campaigns against other Muslim rulers in the region. By AH 454 the whole of Yemen was under al-Sulayhi's control – including Makka, which al-Sulayhi visited personally when undertaking the Pilgrimage. It is also known that al-Mustansir was named in the khutba in Mecca in this year, by which time the local nobility of the city had already acknowledged Fatimid overlordship. Thus while this remarkable dinar cannot be linked to any single historical event, there is ample evidence for Fatimid influence in the Holy Places around the time of its striking.
Classical Numismatic Group, LLC - Islamic Auction 5 - Session 1 . 149
Fatimids. al-Mustansir billah. AH 427-487 / AD 1036-1094. AV Dinar (22.7mm, 4.15 g, 2h). Type J1. Al-Mahdiya mint. Dated AH 451 (AD 1059/60). Cf. Nicol 2226 (with month name). Near VF, from a mount. Of the highest rarity, apparently unpublished. Nicol records dinars of this mint and date which additionally bear the month-name Rabi' al-Akhir in the date legend (Nicol 2226), but none with the year only.
Classical Numismatic Group, LLC - Islamic Auction 5 - Session 1 . 150
Fatimids. al-Hafiz li-Din Allah. AH 526-544 / AD 1131-1149. AV Donative Fractional Dinar (11.5mm, 0.51 g, 4h). Without mint or date. Obverse field: al-Imam / 'Abd / al-Majid. Nicol -. Good VF, pierced. Apparently unpublished.
Classical Numismatic Group, LLC - Islamic Auction 5 - Session 1 . 151
Bahri Mamluks. Shajar al-Durr. AH 648 / AD 1250. AV Dinar (22.1mm, 4.23 g, 3h). Al-Qahira mint. Dated AH 648 (AD 1250). Obverse field: al-Imam / al-Musta'sim / billah Abu Ahmad 'Abd / Allah amir al-mu'minin / Reverse field: al-mu'minin / al-Musta'simiyya al-Salihiya / Malika al-muslimin wa'l-Dahat / al-Malik al-Mansur Khalil / Amir. Balog, Mamluk 1; BMC III, 469 (same dies); cf. Stacks Bowers & Ponterio (13 January 2023) lot 23325; Album 868. Minor edge marks. Near EF. Of the highest rarity, a famous and historically important coin. Celebrated by contemporary writers for her intelligence, piety and love of the arts as well as her beauty, Shajar al-Durr, was purchased as a slave by the Ayyubid ruler al-Salih b. Ayyub (AH 636-647 / AD 1238-1249). She is thought to have been of Turkic or Armenian heritage, and her given name is not known (the epithet Shajar al-Durr, by which she is known today means 'Tree of Pearls' in Arabic). After al-Salih b. Ayyub became the Ayyubid Sultan, she bore him a son, Khalil, after which al-Salih married her. In AH 647, Egypt was faced with the prospect of invasion by the Seventh Crusade, led by King Louis IX of France. Al-Salih b. Ayyub, who was already terminally ill, went from Syria to the mouth of the Nile in order to meet the Crusader threat, but his declining health forced him to retreat to the safety of the fortified town of al-Mansura. Louis's army was thus able to land at Damietta largely unopposed, capturing the bridge which connected the city with the west bank of the Nile. The inhabitants fled, and the Crusaders occupied the deserted city. Louis soon began preparations for an advance on Cairo. With al-Salih b. Ayyub on his deathbed and the Crusaders threatening to attack the Ayyubid capital, the fate of Egypt hung in the balance. But Louis' need to wait for reinforcements, plus a combination of the summer heat, the seasonal Nile floods and persistent harassment of the Crusader army by Muslim guerillas, meant that he was slow to move south from Damietta. Aware that the death of al-Salih b. Ayyub might throw Egypt into turmoil, Shajar al-Durr thus had time to plan accordingly. She arranged with the commander of the army and the chief palace eunuch that al-Salih's death should be concealed, and the deceased Sultan's body was secretly taken by boat to a castle on an island in the Nile. As it appears that al-Salih himself had left no instructions regarding his choice of successor, Shajar al-Durr arranged for al-Mu'azzam Turanshah, one of al-Salih's sons, to be summoned from Hisn Kayfa to succeed his father as Ayyubid Sultan. Meanwhile, Shajar al-Durr continued to have food prepared and brought to her deceased husband's tent, supporting the fiction that he was still alive. Thus when al-Salih's soldiers and ministers were ordered to give their allegiance to Turanshah, they believed they were acting in accordance with the dying al-Salih's wishes. Once Turanshah had arrived in Egypt and been formally enthroned as Sultan, Shajar al-Durr allowed al-Salih's death to become public knowledge. When this news reached the Crusaders, Louis ordered a southward advance on Cairo, surprising and defeating an Ayyubid force encamped about two miles north of the palace of al-Mansura. With Turanshah himself yet to reach the city, the decision to mount a defence of al-Mansura fell to Shajar al-Durr and her commanders, who included the future Mamluk rulers Aybak, Baybars and Qala'un. It was Baybars who devised the plan of opening the gates of al-Mansura to let the Crusaders within the city walls. Believing the city to be deserted, the Crusaders poured into al-Mansura only to be attacked from all sides by the Ayyubid army with support from the townspeople. The result was a massacre, and of the contingent of Knights Templar who accompanied the Crusaders into the city it is recorded that only five men escaped alive. Two months later, Turanshah himself led the army which annihilated the Seventh Crusade at the battle of Fariskur. Louis IX was captured, and eventually ransomed for the sum of 400,000 dinars. The Crusaders never again made a serious attempt to invade Egypt. But while the Crusaders had been crushed, matters were anything but harmonious between the victors. Turanshah, clearly feeling threatened by the power of Shajar al-Durr and her mamluks, immediately began to replace serving officials with his own loyal supporters, and also wrote to Shajar al-Durr to demand that she hand over al-Salih's treasury to him. If Turanshah expected Shajar al-Durr to be intimidated into subservience, however, he was fatally mistaken. Barely a month after the victory at Fariskur, Turanshah was assassinated by a group of Mamluks under the leadership of Baybars, bringing Ayyubid rule in Egypt to an abrupt end. Remarkably, the Mamluks took the decision to install Shajar al-Durr herself as the new ruler, with Aybak appointed as her commander-in-chief. Thus for the first time since Cleopatra, a woman ruled over Egypt. Unfortunately for Shajar al-Durr, however, other powers in the region proved hostile to her rule. The various Ayyubid rulers in Syria refused to accept her as their overlord, so that Damascus chose to acknowledge the Ayyubid Amir of Halab instead. While the Mamluks could respond to this by taking measures against pro-Ayyubid governors and officials in Egypt, they could do nothing in the face of the refusal by the 'Abbasid caliph, al-Musta'sim, to confirm Shajar al-Durr as ruler in Egypt. Without the legitimacy conferred by formal recognition from the caliph, Shajar al-Durr's position was unsustainable, and the Mamluks knew it. Their solution was to arrange for her to marry Aybak and to abdicate in his favour, leaving him to rule as Sultan. Duly mollified, the caliph gave the new ruler his approval. The Ayyubids remained hostile, but al-Musta'sim intervened, conscious that with Mongol raiding parties not far from Baghdad he would need support from both sides. The resulting agreement saw the formal recognition of the Mamluk state, which would be a dominant force in the region for centuries to come. While Shajar al-Durr's reign only lasted some eighty days, she remained a formidable political force in the region after her abdication. From Aybak's perspective, this proved something of a mixed blessing: he gained legitimacy through being married to a former Sultana who had herself previously been al-Salih b. Ayyub's wife, but her continuing involvement in politics made it harder for him to establish himself as a strong and independent ruler in his own right. A powerful group of Mamluks including Baybars and Qala'un remained loyal to Shajar al-Durr rather than to Aybak, and eventually Aybak felt sufficiently threatened to move against them, executing their leader Altay. Relations between Aybak and Shajar al-Durr continued to deteriorate, with Shajar al-Durr both attempting to take personal control of state affairs while also demanding a divorce. Eventually, seeking a political ally who could support him against Shajar al-Durr and her faction, Aybak married the daughter of the ruler of Mawsil, Badr al-Din Lu'lu'. Betrayed both personally and politically by the husband whom she had made Sultan, Shajar al-Durr's response was to arrange for Aybak to be murdered in his bath early in AH 655. But the servants who killed Aybak confessed their crime under torture, and only a few days later Shajar al-Durr herself was beaten to death by slave-women belonging to Aybak's first wife, who was also the mother of his successor, al-Mansur 'Ali. Her magnificent tomb, near the Mosque of Tulun in Cairo, survives today.
Classical Numismatic Group, LLC - Islamic Auction 5 - Session 1 . 152
Bahri Mamluks. al-Mansur Nur al-Din 'Ali I. AH 655-657 / AD 1257-1259. AV Dinar (20.6mm, 4.56 g, 9h). Al-Qahira mint. Dated AH 657 (AD 1258/9). Balog, Mamluk 18; Album 873. Good VF. From the collection of the late Dr. M.F.W. Al Katib. Ex Morton & Eden 66 (7 November 2013), lot 623.
Classical Numismatic Group, LLC - Islamic Auction 5 - Session 1 . 153
Saffarids. Tahir b. Muhammad. AH 288-296 / AD 901-908. AR Dirham (25.4mm, 2.84 g, 7h). 'Uman mint. Dated AH 294 (AD 906/7). Al-Fadhli p. 79; Oman p. 129; Lloyd, Saffarid Um294; Qatar 3630; Album 1404. Some die rust. Near VF. Very rare.
Classical Numismatic Group, LLC - Islamic Auction 5 - Session 1 . 154
Saffarids. Subkari. Rebel, AH 296-298 / AD 908-910. AR Dirham (24.2mm, 3.41 g, 5h). 'Uman mint. Dated AH 297 (AD 909/10). Al-Fadhli p. 82; Oman -; Lloyd, Saffarid Um297; Album 1406. Cleaned, edge split. Fine. Of thie highest rarity, apparently the first example to be offered at auction.
Classical Numismatic Group, LLC - Islamic Auction 5 - Session 1 . 155
Governors of Oman. Ahmad b. Hilal. Circa AH 290-305 / AD 903-918. AR Dirham (25.1mm, 3.31 g, 9h). 'Uman mint. Dated AH 304 (AD 916/7). Al-Fadhli p. 89; Oman p. 130; Album F1160. Good Fine, centres weakly struck. Very rare.
Classical Numismatic Group, LLC - Islamic Auction 5 - Session 1 . 156
Wajihids. Yusuf b. Wajih. AH 314-332 / AD 925-943. AR Dirham (26.7mm, 4.33 g, 11h). 'Uman mint. Dated AH 322 (AD 934). Reverse field: citing the caliph al-Radi. Cf. CNG Islamic Auction 3 (27 April 2023), lot 192; Al-Fadhli -; Oman -; Album 1160. VF, some staining. Very rare.
Classical Numismatic Group, LLC - Islamic Auction 5 - Session 1 . 157
Wajihids. Yusuf b. Wajih. AH 314-332 / AD 925-943. AR Dirham (24.7mm, 2.30 g, 8h). 'Uman mint. Dated AH 324 (AD 935/6). Al-Fadhli p. 111; Oman p. 130; Album 1160. VF, minor staining in margins. Very rare.
Classical Numismatic Group, LLC - Islamic Auction 5 - Session 1 . 158
Wajihids. Yusuf b. Wajih. AH 314-332 / AD 925-943. AR Dirham (25.5mm, 4.27 g, 1h). 'Uman mint. Dated AH 327 (AD 938/9). Obverse field: citing Yusuf b. Wajih in fourth line, and his heir Muhammad b. Yusuf in fifth line. Al-Fadhli p. 118; Oman -; Album 1160. Good VF for issue. Very rare, especially of this weight.
Classical Numismatic Group, LLC - Islamic Auction 5 - Session 1 . 159
Buwayhids (Buyids). 'Adud al-Dawla Abu Shuja' Fanakhusraw. AH 367-372 / AD 977-983. AR Dirham (25.3mm, 2.82 g, 8h). 'Uman mint. Dated AH 369 (AD 979/80). Cf. Treadwell Um368 (dated AH 368); al-Fadhli -; Album U1568. Cleaned, minor porosity. Fine, centres weak. Extremely rare, this date not recorded for silver by Treadwell or al-Fadhli.
Classical Numismatic Group, LLC - Islamic Auction 5 - Session 1 . 160
Buwayhids (Buyids). Sharaf al-Dawla Abu'l-Fawaris Shirdhil. AH 373-379 / AD 983-989. AR Dirham (25.4mm, 4.39 g, 1h). 'Uman mint. Dated AH 373 (AD 983/4). Treadwell Um37X; al-Fadhli p. 231; Album 1565. Some weak striking. Near VF for issue, toned.
Classical Numismatic Group, LLC - Islamic Auction 5 - Session 1 . 161
Mukramids. Abu Muhammad Hasan b. Mukram. Circa AH 408-411 / AD 1017-1020. AV Donative Dinar (26.5mm, 5.73 g, 1h). 'Uman mint. Dated AH 409 (AD 1018/9). Al-Fadhli p. 306 (same dies as illustration); Oman p. 136; cf. Baldwin's Islamic Auction 16 (20 October 2009), lot 495; Album M1164; . Buckled flan, obverse scrape and kink in rim. Good VF. Extremely rare. The cataloguer of the specimen sold at Baldwin's in 2009 suggested that these medallic dinars with broad margins may have been struck to commemorate the beginning of Mukramid rule in Oman.
Classical Numismatic Group, LLC - Islamic Auction 5 - Session 1 . 162
Buwayhids (Buyids). 'Imad al-Din Marzuban Abu Kalijar. AH 415-440 / AD 1024-1048. AV Dinar (26.5mm, 6.91 g, 6h). 'Uman mint. Dated AH 432 (AD 1040/41). Treadwell Um432G; al-Fadhli p. 350; Oman p. 138; Album A1584. Fine.
Classical Numismatic Group, LLC - Islamic Auction 5 - Session 1 . 163
Seljuqs, Rum. Ghiyath al-Din Kay Khusraw II b. Kay Qubadh. AH 634-644 / AD 1237-1246. AV Dinar (19.7mm, 4.36 g, 4h). Qunya mint. Dated AH 635 (AD 1237/8). Broome 234; Album 1215. VF.
Classical Numismatic Group, LLC - Islamic Auction 5 - Session 1 . 164
Samanids. Ahmad II b. Ismail. AH 295-301 / AD 907-914. AR Dirham (28.3mm, 2.89 g, 6h). Qaristan mint. Dated AH 299 (AD 911/12). Obverse field: A(bu) Nasr in fourth line / Reverse field: al-qudra in in final line. Kolosov & Kalinin Qa.299; SNAT XIVd, 831. Toned. VF. Excessively rare.
Classical Numismatic Group, LLC - Islamic Auction 5 - Session 1 . 165
Samanids. Nasr II b. Ahmad. AH 301-331 / AD 914-943. AV Donative Dinar (24.7mm, 3.99 g, 5h). Medallic type with broad margins. Naysabur mint. Dated AH 305 (AD 917/18). Reverse field: Nasr b. Ahmad, in naskhi script, in bottom line. SNAT XIVa, 433; Album 1449D. Near VF. Very rare.
Classical Numismatic Group, LLC - Islamic Auction 5 - Session 1 . 166
Samanids. 'Abd al-Malik I b. Nuh. AH 343-350 / AD 954-961. AV Dinar (24.4mm, 4.03 g, 11h). Harat mint. Dated AH 344 (AD 955/6). Reverse field: citing the deceased 'Abbasid caliph al-Mustakfi billah and the Samanid 'Abd al-Malik b. Nuh. Cf. Morton & Eden 79 (21 April 2016), lot 174 (dated AH 346 and citing al-Muti');Album 1460. Near VF, ex-mount. Of the highest rarity, apparently unpublished and believed unique. The earliest dinar from Harat known to Diler was dated AH 347 (p. 1304, note 20369). An example dated AH 346 has since appeared at auction, but the coin offered here appears to be the earliest known Samanid dinar from the important mint of Harat by two years.
Classical Numismatic Group, LLC - Islamic Auction 5 - Session 1 . 167
. Two heart-shaped bronze weights, possible for 12-mithqals and 6-dinars, the reverse of each stamped Samarqand, in small, neat, unpointed Kufic script within oval cartouche; the larger 24.8 x 30.3 x 13.lmm, the smaller 20.1 x 25.2 x 9.6mm; 47.40 and 25.17g respectively. Both with slightly tough red/green patination. VF. Two (2) pieces. Although undated, the calligraphy on both pieces is consistent with a date in the Umayyad or early 'Abbasid period. There is no mark to indicate a denomination or standard, although the smaller is clearly intended to be exactly half the weight of the larger. The suggested values of 12- and 6-mithqals are conjectural, but are an extremely close match assuming a mithqal weight of 4.25g
Classical Numismatic Group, LLC - Islamic Auction 5 - Session 1 . 168
Sajids. Yusuf b. Diwdad. AH 288-315 / AD 901-927. AV Dinar (19.5mm, 4.49 g, 2h). Ardabil mint. Dated AH 298 (AD 910/11). Obverse: al-wazir Abu'l-Hasan in fourth line of field / Reverse: Yusuf bin Diwdad in fifth line of field. Bernardi 250Ka; Vardanyan 41. Good VF. Very rare.