Mamluks. al-Nasir Nasir al-Din Muhammad I, AH 693-4, 698-708, 709-41 / AD 1293-4, 1299-1309, 1310-41. Dinar (Gold, 21 mm, 4.12 g, 7 h), Hamah, date off flan. Central field, in five lines: ḍuriba bi-Ḥamāh / lā ilāha illā Allāh / Muḥammad rasūl Allāh / arsalahu bi-l-hudā wa / dīn al-ḥaqq (‘Struck in Ḥamāh / There is no deity but God / Muḥammad is the Messenger of God / whom He sent with guidance and / the religion of truth’ in Arabic). Margin: ḍuriba hādhī al-dīnār … (‘This dinar was struck …’ in Arabic; remainder off flan). Rev. Central field, in five lines: Qalāʾūn / al-sulṭān al-malik / al-Nāṣir Nāṣir al-Dunyā wa- / l-Dīn Muḥammad al-malik / al-Manṣūr (‘Qalāʾūn / the Sultan, the King / al-Nāṣir Nāṣir al-Dunyā wa- / l-Dīn Muḥammad, the King / al-Manṣūr’ in Arabic). Album 912. Balog 169. A very rare mint. Minor areas of weakness and small deposits, otherwise, extremely fine.


This dinar was struck at Ḥamāh, one of the rarer provincial mints of the Baḥrī Mamluk Sultanate. Located in central Syria along the Orontes River, Ḥamāh was an important regional center but produced far smaller quantities of gold coinage than the principal Mamluk mints of Cairo and Damascus.

A particularly curious feature of the present specimen is the marginal spelling هاذی (hādhī al-dīnār) instead of the expected classical Arabic form هذا (hādhā al-dīnār).