Umayyad Caliphate. temp. Yazid II ibn 'Abd al-Malik, AH 101-105 / AD 720-724. Drachm (Silver, 34 mm, 3.99 g, 9 h), Arab-Sasanian type, citing governor ʿUbayd Allah ibn Ziyad (AH 54-64 / AD 673-683), YZ (Yazd), YE 53(?) = AD 684 (struck after his governorship). Draped bust resembling Khosrau II to right, wearing an elaborate mural crown; behind head, ‘GDE / ʾp̄zwt’ (‘[may his] glory increase’ in Pahlavi); before head, ‘ʾwbytʾlʾ / Y zyyʾtʾn’ = ‘Ubaydālā ī Ziyādān’ (‘ʿUbayd Allah son of Ziyad’ in Pahlavi); in the outer margin, ‘bism Allāh’ (‘In the name of Allah’ in Arabic). Rev. Fire altar with ribbons, flanked by two attendants; above altar, crescent and star; to left, blundered date in Pahlavi; to right, ‘YZ’ (abbreviation for the name of the mint in Pahlavi). Album 12. Struck from corroded dies, otherwise, good very fine.



Stephen Album Rare Coins has read the date on a similar specimen (Auction 46, lot 151, 18 May 2023) as PYE 26 (= AH 58), but it seems more like a blundered YE 53.