Arabia. Rasulid. al-Mansur 'Umar I, AH 626-647 / AD 1229-1250. Fals (Bronze, 21 mm, 4.66 g, 12 h), citing the ʿAbbāsid caliph al-Mustanṣir bi-llāh, no mint, no date. Within pointed quatrefoil, in three lines: al-imām / al-Mustanṣir bi-llāh / Abū Jaʿfar (‘The Imam / al-Mustanṣir bi-llāh / Abū Jaʿfar’ in Arabic). Traces of marginal legend.. Rev. Within pointed quatrefoil, in three lines: abī al-Fatḥ / al-malik al-Manṣūr / ʿUmar ibn ʿAlī (‘Abū al-Fatḥ / the King al-Manṣūr / ʿUmar ibn ʿAlī’ in Arabic). Traces of marginal legend. Album 1101. Cf. Zeno 191245. Very rare. Weakly struck, flan faults on the edge and some deposits, otherwise, very fine.



This very rare bronze fals belongs to the earliest phase of Rasulid coinage in Yemen under al-Manṣūr ʿUmar ibn ʿAlī, founder of the Rasulid dynasty. Originally serving the Ayyubids of Yemen, al-Manṣūr ʿUmar gradually consolidated his authority and established an independent Rasulid state that would become one of the most prosperous and culturally important dynasties of medieval Arabia.

Bronze Rasulid coinage remains comparatively understudied, and many types are known from only a handful of specimens.