Persia (Pre-Seljuq). Ghaznavids. Yamin al-Dawla Abu'l-Qasim Mahmud, AH 384-387 / AD 994-997. Dinar (Gold, 25 mm, 4.25 g, 9 h), citing the Sāmānid ruler Nūḥ ibn Manṣūr as overlord and the deposed ʿAbbāsid caliph al-Ṭāʾiʿ li-llāh, Nishapur, AH 384 = AD 994/5. Central field, in six lines: ʿamūd / lā ilāha illā / Allāh waḥdahū / lā sharīka lahū / al-walī Sayf / al-Dawla (‘ʿAmūd / There is no deity but God alone / He has no associate / the protector Sayf al-Dawla’ in Arabic). Inner margin: bi-sm Allāh ḍuriba hādhā al-dīnār bi-Naysābūr sanat arbaʿ wa-thamānīn wa-thalāth-miʾa (‘In the name of God, this dinar was struck in Naysābūr in the year three hundred and eighty-four’ in Arabic). Outer margin (Qurʾān 30:4-5): li-llāh al-amr min qabl wa-min baʿd wa-yawmaʾidhin yafraḥ al-muʾminūn bi-naṣr Allāh (‘To God belongs the command before and after, and on that day the believers will rejoice in the help of God’ in Arabic). Rev. Central field, in five lines: li-llāh / Muḥammad rasūl Allāh / al-Ṭāʾiʿ li-llāh / al-malik al-manṣūr / Nūḥ ibn Manṣūr (‘For God / Muḥammad is the Messenger of God / al-Ṭāʾiʿ li-llāh / the victorious king / Nūḥ ibn Manṣūr’ in Arabic). Uncertain mark to right of the central field. Margin: Muḥammad rasūl Allāh arsalahu bi-l-hudā wa-dīn al-ḥaqq li-yuẓhirahu ʿalā al-dīn kullihi wa-law kariha al-mushrikūn (‘Muḥammad 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 A1602. A beautiful preserved and sharply struck example. Good extremely fine.


This important early Ghaznavid issue belongs to Maḥmūd’s period as Sāmānid governor in western Khurāsān, before the full emergence of independent Ghaznavid rule. The obverse names Maḥmūd through the title Sayf al-Dawla, while the reverse cites the Sāmānid overlord Nūḥ ibn Manṣūr, ruler of the Sāmānids from AH 365-387 / AD 976–997. This arrangement reflects Maḥmūd’s still-formal position within the Sāmānid political order at the time of issue.

The citation of the deposed ʿAbbāsid caliph al-Ṭāʾiʿ li-llāh is especially interesting, since al-Ṭāʾiʿ had been removed from power in AH 381 / AD 991, before the date of this coin. His continued appearance on this AH 384 issue illustrates the conservative and sometimes delayed nature of provincial epigraphic practice in eastern Iranian gold coinage.

The small mark struck to the right of the reverse field is unusual and its precise function remains uncertain.