Crusader Imitations of Islamic Dirhams. Circa 1251-1291 CE. Dirham (Silver, 22 mm, 2.69 g, 4 h), big cross pattée within circle in center, Akka (Acre), 1251. Cross pattée in center within circle. Field within square, in four lines: Allāh wāḥid huwa / al-īmān / wāḥid / al-maʿmūdiyya wāḥida (‘God is one, the faith is one, the baptism is one’ in Arabic; cf. Ephesians 4:5); in margin: [ḍuriba] bi-ʿAkkā / sana alf [wa-miʾatayn] / [wa-aḥad wa-khamsīn / li-tajassud al-Masīḥ] (‘Struck at ʿAkkā in the year one thousand two hundred and fifty-one of the Incarnation of the Messiah’ in Arabic). Rev. Field within square, in three lines: al-Ab wa-l-Ibn / wa-l-Rūḥ al-Qudus / ilāh wāḥid (‘The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God’ in Arabic); in margin: lahū al-majd / ilā abad / al-ābidīn / āmīn āmīn (‘His is the glory forever and ever, amen, amen’ in Arabic). Bates/Metcalf 55. CCS 15. Jeselsohn IV 665. Metcalf, Crusades, 227. Wäckerlin 227 ff. Beautiful iridescent toning. Minor marks and some areas of weakness, otherwise, good very fine.



This remarkable dirham belongs to the short-lived Christian Arabic coinage introduced at ʿAkkā in 1251 CE. Unlike the earlier Crusader imitations of Ayyubid dirhams, which retained Muslim religious formulae, this issue proclaims explicitly Christian doctrine in Arabic script. Its legends therefore stand at a rare intersection of Crusader authority, Arabic epigraphy and local monetary practice.

The obverse legend echoes Ephesians 4:5. The reverse continues with an Arabic expression of the Trinity. Such overtly Christian formulae are rarely encountered on medieval coins written in Arabic, a script more commonly associated in this monetary context with Islamic issues.

The issue was produced in response to papal criticism of Crusader coins bearing Islamic legends and dates, but the experiment was brief. Its explicitly Christian legends and cross-bearing design apparently failed to gain broad acceptance in the mixed commercial environment of the Levant, and it was soon replaced by less overtly Christian Arabic types. This short life, together with its unusual legends and early CE dating, gives the series exceptional historical interest.