ISLAMIC, 'Abbasid Caliphate. al-Hadi, AH 169-170 / AD 785-786. Dirham (Silver, 24 mm, 2.54 g, 9 h), Ifriqiya with Barqa (Kyrenaika), AH 170 = AD 786/7. Rev. 'Bar' above and 'Qa' below the inner reverse legend. SICA III, 438 (under Ifriqiya). Very rare and of great interest. Some scratches, otherwise, very fine.




The rather mysterious mint of Barqa, the ancient Greek city of Barke in Kyrenaika, has only recently been studied by scholars, of which one, F. Bauden, called its coinage 'a terra incognita' (F. Bauden: The Islamic Coinage of Cyrenaica (Barqa) from the Arab conquest up to the Advent of the Fatimids, in: Numismatica Patavina 13 (2016), p. 388).