Fatimids. al-Zahir li-I'zaz Din Allah, AH 411-427 / AD 1021-1036. Dinar (Gold, 29 mm, 4.00 g), first series, al-Mansuriyya, AH 427 = AD 1035/6. Central field, in two lines, within two concentric circles: Muḥammad rasūl Allāh / ʿAlī walī Allāh (‘Muhammad is the Messenger of God / ʿAli is the friend of God’ in Arabic). Inner inscription: lā ilāha illā Allāh waḥdahu lā sharīka lahu (‘There is no god but God alone, He has no associate’ in Arabic). Outer inscription: Muḥammad rasūl Allāh arsalahu bi-l-hudā wa-dīn al-ḥaqq li-yuẓhirahu ʿalā al-dīn kullihi (‘Muhammad is the Messenger of God, whom He sent with guidance and the religion of truth, to make it prevail over all religion’ in Arabic). Rev. Central field, in two lines, within two concentric circles: al-Ẓāhir li-Iʿzāz Dīn / Allāh amīr al-muʾminīn (‘al-Zahir li-Iʿzaz Din Allah, Commander of the Believers’ in Arabic). Inner inscription: ʿabd Allāh wa walīyuhu ʿAlī Abū al-Ḥasan al-imām (‘The servant of God and His friend, ʿAli Abu’l-Hasan, the Imam’ in Arabic). Outer inscription: bism Allāh ḍuriba hādhā al-dīnār bi-al-Manṣūriyya sana sabʿ wa-ʿishrīn wa-arbaʿ-miʾa (‘In the name of God, this dinar was struck in al-Mansuriyya in the year four hundred and twenty-seven’ in Arabic). Album 714.1. Nicol 1571. Rare. Well centred and well struck for this type. Some areas of weakness, several scratches and slightly bent, otherwise, very fine.


This dinar belongs to the single standard gold type used during the reign of al-Ẓāhir li-Iʿzāz Dīn Allāh. Production extended across several mints in Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean, but Maghrebi issues from al-Manṣūriyya and al-Mahdiyya occur less frequently than the Egyptian mint output from Miṣr.