'Abbasid Caliphate. temp. Al-Ma'mun, AH 199-218 / AD 813-833. Dinar (Gold, 18 mm, 3.33 g, 12 h), without name of mint or governor, variety without pellet below Allāh on the reverse, [Sanʿa], AH 206 = AD 821/2. Central field, in three lines: lā ilāha illā / Allāh waḥdahu / lā sharīka lahu (‘There is no god but God alone, He has no associate’ in Arabic). Margin: Muḥammad rasūl Allāh arsalahu bi-l-hudā wa-dīn al-ḥaqq li-yuẓhirahu ʿalā al-dīn kullihi (‘Muhammad is the Messenger of God, whom He sent with guidance and the religion of truth to make it prevail over all religion’ in Arabic). Rev. Central field, in three lines: Muḥammad / rasūl / Allāh (‘Muhammad is the Messenger of God’ in Arabic). Margin: bi-sm Allāh ḍuriba hādhā al-dīnār sanat sanat sitt wa-miʾatayn (‘In the name of God, this dinar was struck in the year two hundred and six’ in Arabic). Bernardi -, cf. 51 (date not listed). An apparently unpublished variety of the extremely rare late survival of the earliest anonymous Abbasid dinar type. Clipped and with some scratches, otherwise, very fine.


These sought-after coins were struck only extremely sporadically after 199 AH. Bernardi records only three later-dated examples of this type (AH 207 and AH 211, Bernardi 51). Another example dated AH 206 was offered at Morton & Eden 85, 26 April 2017, 29, but with a pellet below Allāh. The present coin therefore represents a distinct and significant and apparently unpublished variety.