ISLAMIC, 'Abbasid Caliphate. Al-Musta'sim, AH 640-656 / AD 1242-1258. Dirham (Silver, 23 mm, 3.07 g, 10 h), citing the caliph al-Musta'sim billah, Irbil, AH 650 = AD 1252/3. SICA IV, 27. Very rare and nicely toned. The flan slightly wavy, otherwise, very fine.

This very interesting dirham was struck a few years before the Mongols sacked the city of Baghdad and captured al-Musta'sim, the last of the Abbasid Caliphs. According to Marco Polo, Hulagu Khan locked al-Musta'sim in his treasury room and let him starve to death, telling him that he should try eating all the treasures he was fond of so much