ISLAMIC, 'Abbasid Caliphate. Al-Mu'tamid, AH 256-279 / AD 870-892. Dirham (Silver, 19 mm, 2.61 g, 6 h), a contemporary imitation citing al-Muwaffaq, the heir of the caliph al-Mu'tamid, on the obverse and the caliph al-Mu'tazz on the reverse. Uncertain mint in the Caucasus, AH 265 = AD 878/9. Roma Auction 17 (2019), 858. Stephen Album 31 (2018), 337. Rare. Cleaning scratches, otherwise, very fine.


This issue is somewhat of an enigma: it combines an obverse citing al-Muwaffaq, the heir of the caliph al-Mu'tamid, with a reverse of the caliph al-Mu'tazz and is thus clearly not official. However, it also provides the name of an unknown mint, which Album reads as 'MSTFR' (ending in 'ayn' or 'ghayn') and locates somewhere in the Caucasus. The type may have been struck as an emergency issue by an ad-hoc local mint set up during a time of turmoil in Armenia and Azerbaijan.