ISLAMIC, Umayyad Caliphate. temp. 'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, AH 65-86 / AD 685-705. Fals (Bronze, 15 mm, 3.08 g, 6 h), 'Standing Caliph' type, Latakia (?) (Laodicea ad Mare), AH 74-80 = AD 693/4-699/700. Caliph standing facing, bearded, placing his right hand on the pommel of his sword and whip hanging from his right elbow; around, 'J li' abd Allah' abd al-Malik Amir al-Mu'minin' ('for the servant of Allah, Abd al-Malik, Commander of the Faithful' in Kufic).
Rev. Transformed cross standing on three steps; in field to left, wāf ('full weight' in Kufic); in field to right, 'Latakia' (?) (in Kufic); around, first part of Kalima reading 'la ilaha illa Allah wahdahu Muhammad rasul Allah' ('There is no God but Allah alone; Muhammad is the messenger of Allah'). Album 45 (2023),179 (
same dies). An extremely rare mint, known from only a very few examples. Some deposits
, otherwise, about very fine.
From a European collection, formed before 2005.
T. Goodwin suggests to read the mint name on this extremely rare issue as 'Latakia' (Laodicea ar Mare). Interestingly, the city's name is usually blundered and appears in different spellings (see lot 3144 above). We sincerely thank T. Goodwin for his valuable contributions to the discussion of this issue.
