Fatimids. al-Mustansir billah, AH 427-487 / AD 1036-1094. Dinar (Gold, 22 mm, 3.13 g), second standard dinar with extended titulature ‘ʿabd Allāh wa walīhi’, Ṣūr (Tyre), AH 439 = AD 1047/8. Central field, in five lines, within two concentric circles: ʿAlī / lā ilāha illā Allāh / waḥdahu lā sharīka lahu / Muḥammad rasūl Allāh / walī Allāh (‘ʿAli / There is no god but God / He alone, He has no associate / Muhammad is the Messenger of God / the friend of God’ in Arabic). Margin: Muḥammad rasūl Allāh arsalahu bi-l-hudā wa-dīn al-ḥaqq li-yuẓhirahu ʿalā al-dīn kullihi wa-law kariha al-mushrikūn (‘Muhammad is the Messenger of God, whom He sent with guidance and the religion of truth, to make it prevail over all religion, even though the polytheists may dislike it’ in Arabic). Rev. Central field, in five lines, within two concentric circles: Maʿadd / ʿabd Allāh wa walīhi / al-imām Abū Tamīm / al-Mustanṣir bi-llāh / amīr al-muʾminīn (‘Maʿadd, the servant of God and His friend, the Imam Abū Tamīm al-Mustanṣir bi-llāh, Commander of the Believers’ in Arabic) Margin: Muḥammad rasūl Allāh arsalahu bi-l-hudā wa-dīn al-ḥaqq li-yuẓhirahu ʿalā al-dīn kullihi wa-law kariha al-mushrikūn (‘Muhammad is the Messenger of God, whom He sent with guidance and the religion of truth, to make it prevail over all religion, even though the polytheists may dislike it’ in Arabic). Album 719.2. ICV 837. Nicol 1919. Very rare. Slightly bent and some doubling, otherwise, nearly extremely fine.


The second standard type, distinguished by the titulature ‘ʿabd Allāh wa walīhi’, was struck intermittently at eastern Mediterranean mints; issues of Ṣūr are much rarer than contemporary emissions of Miṣr.