ISLAMIC, Fatimids. al-Mustansir billah, AH 427-487 / AD 1036-1094. Dinar (Gold, 22 mm, 3.91 g, 9 h), second standard type, Misr, AH 440 = 1048/9. Within a central circle, ‘ʿAlī / lā ilāha illā Allāh / waḥdahū lā sharīka lahū / Muḥammad rasūl Allāh / walī Allāh’ (‘There is no deity but Allah, the One, there is no partner to Him. Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. Ali is the friend of Allah’ in Arabic); in the margin, ‘Muḥammad rasūl Allāh arsalahū bi al-hudā wa dīn al-ḥaqq liyuẓhirahū ʿalā al-dīn kullih wa law kariha al-mushrikūn’ (‘Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. He sent him with guidance and the religion of truth, so that He may make it overcome all religions, even though the unbelievers may dislike it’ in Arabic).
Rev. Within a central circle, ‘Maʿadd / ʿabd Allāh wa waliyyuhū / al-imām Abū Tamīm / al-Mustanṣir billāh / amīr al-muʾminīn’ (‘The servant of Allah and His friend, Imam Maʿadd Abu Tamim al-Mustansir billah, Commander of the Believers’ in Arabic); in the margin, ‘bism Allāh al-raḥmān al-raḥīm ḍuriba hādhā al-dīnār bi Miṣr sana arbaʿīn wa arbaʿa miʾa’ (‘In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. This dinar was struck in Misr in the year 440’ in Arabic). Album 719.2. A wonderful coin, beautifully struck and very well preserved. Somewhat clipped and with light doubling
, otherwise, extremely fine.
From a West German collection, ex Peus 276, 24 March 1971, 1839.