ISLAMIC, 'Abbasid Caliphate. temp. Al-Rashid, AH 170-193 / AD 786-809. Fals (Bronze, 18 mm, 4.27 g, 2 h), al-Mada'in (Ctesiphon), AH 181 = AD 797/8. Album -. Morton & Eden 89 (2017), 30 (same dies). Shamma -. Of the highest rarity, apparently the second known example. Struck slightly off center, otherwise, about very fine.

Ctesiphon, one of the capitals of the Parthian and Sasanian empires, was called al-Mada'in by the Arabs ('The two cities' in Kufic). It was the seat of a governorship in Umayyad times, and the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur resided there with his court in AH 136. However, the rise of the newly founded city of Baghdad lead to a rapid collapse of the once prosperous city.