'Abbasid Caliphate. temp. Al-Mahdi, AH 158-169 / AD 775-785. Fals (Bronze, 23 mm, 3.18 g, 1 h), citing Khālid ibn Yazīd, Bab (later Darband, now Derbent), AH 159 = AD 775/6. Star above and below. Central field, in three lines: lā ilāha illā / Allāh waḥdahū / lā sharīka lahū (‘There is no deity but God alone; He has no associate’ in Arabic). Rev. Star above; circle with pellet inside and pentagram below. Central field, in three lines: Muḥammad / rasūl / Allāh (‘Muhammad is the Messenger of God’ in Arabic). Margin: bi-sm Allāh mimmā amara bihī Khālid ibn Yazīd bi-l-Bāb sanat tisʿ wa-khamsīn wa-miʾa (‘In the name of God, from what was ordered by Khālid ibn Yazīd at al-Bāb in the year one hundred and fifty-nine’ in Arabic). Zeno 275849. Extremely rare. Broken flan, with encrusted deposits and corrosion, otherwise, good fine.


Al-Bāb, ‘the Gate’, was the Arabic name of Derbent, the fortified Caspian passage controlling movement between the northern Caucasus and the Iranian world. Its strategic position made it one of the most important frontier points of the early Islamic Caucasus, and copper coins struck there are important evidence for Abbasid administration in the region.