Arabia. Rasulid. al-Muzaffar Yusuf I, AH 647-694 / AD 1250–1295. Fals (Bronze, 20 mm, 3.31 g, 11 h), citing the ʿAbbāsid caliph al-Mustaʿṣim bi-llāh, mint off flan, date off flan. In four lines: al-imām / al-Mustaʿṣim / bi-llāh amīr / al-muʾminīn (‘The Imam / al-Mustaʿṣim / bi-llāh, Commander / of the Believers’ in Arabic). Margin off flan. Rev. In four lines: al-sulṭān / al-malik al-Muẓaffar / Shams al-Dīn / Yūsuf (‘The Sultan / the King al-Muẓaffar / Shams al-Dīn / Yūsuf’ in Arabic). Margin off flan. Album 1103. Zeno 344527 (same coin). Extremely rare. Some corrosion and deposits, otherwise, nearly very fine.



This extremely rare bronze fals cites the last effective Abbasid caliph of Baghdad, al-Mustaʿṣim bi-llāh, who was killed during the Mongol sack of Baghdad in AH 656 / AD 1258. The continued appearance of his name on Rasulid coinage reflects the prestige and symbolic legitimacy attached to the Abbasid caliphate even in distant Yemen.