ISLAMIC, Umayyad Caliphate. temp. Mu'awiya I ibn Abi Sufyan, AH 41-60 / AD 661-680. Fals (Bronze, 18 mm, 3.72 g, 2 h), Arab-Byzantine type, Ba'albakk (Heliopolis). Two imperial figures standing facing, holding cruciform scepters in their left hands and the left figure holding globus cruciger in his right hand; above, cross. Rev. Large M in center; above, cross; below, inverted crescent; in left and right field, H/[Λ/Ι/૪-Π/O/Λ/Є; in exergue, 'ba'albakk' (in Kufic). DOCAB -. Goodwin&Gyselen -. Goodwin, Khalili Collection, p. 80, 77-78. Extremely rare. Very fine.


Ba'albakk, the ancient city of Heliopolis, was an administration center of considerable importance in the Umayyad Caliphate and one of its early mints. Our coin is an extremely rare variety of the main bilingual type struck in Ba'albakk, known to Goodwin in only two (out of 87) recorded examples: it shows the imperial figures holding Christian crosses in their left hands.