Walking Back From 1600 With Dated Coins

TFW I nearly missed my own coin day.
(In my defence I was really sleepy the entire day.)



Obverse (?): hexagram, with dots between rays; six-pointed asterisk in center, apparently also with dots between rays; all within round border
Reverse (?): date (reads as x86, but probably 776), Arabic inscription above (illegible on this example); all within round border, which is apparently within dotted border

Anatolia, Beyliks of
uncertain beylik (Menteshe?)
AE fals (?) or mangir (?)
dated [x86?] = probably 776
16x15 mm, 0.98 g

Numista 309426; cf. Zeno 229143, 229144, 272145, 272146 (all attributed to 776 AH)
more distantly cf. Numista 301424, Zeno cat. 5146 (type with similar obverse attributed to Menteshe); even more distantly cf. Numista 345962, Zeno cat. 5456 (type with similar obverse (?) attributed to Karaman [Numista] / Jandar [Zeno]); a few other vaguely similar but anepigraphic types listed at Numista 301429 (there attributed to Golden Horde)

The date on this coin is somewhat confusing; it is, however, clearly from the same series as the Numista example and the four Zeno examples, and that makes 776 the most likely interpretation. It certainly makes sense chronologically, either for a Golden Horde issue or an Anatolian one.
I don't know what the Arabic text (visible on the first and fourth of the Zeno examples) is supposed to be saying; I can't find any interpretation of it anywhere.

I've previously mentioned that the similar types might have been reclassified from Anatolia to Golden Horde; in fact it looks like the reclassification went in the opposite direction, with the Anatolian attributions being newer.
More details in Numista topic 80345; I hadn't looked for the Turkish references listed there (and my Turkish is a lot worse than my Dutch, so they might not have been of much use to me anyway).


On other notes: beautiful Aachen groschen from @Spence! I believe we've discussed before that the date looks like it's written in lowercase letters - if so, an interesting script distinction, especially on a coin that early.

Those Delhi tankas are neat as well! I've been looking at getting into some of those series back when I lived in Moscow (don't feel like wrestling with Israeli laws on this topic, even if it ultimately turns out to be legal).
And that's an interesting size combo on the 777 AH tanka, if true... 16.2 mm would make it smaller than a dime, and at 8.87 grams, that means it must be seriously thick. I knew that Delhi coins are thick but either this one is really thick or there's a typo in the diameter.

No change in gap listing: 1464, 1463, 1462, 1457, 1454, 1446, 1414, 1409, 1408, 1407, 1385, 1384, 1383, 1382, 1381, and so far we've seen every date after that.

Nice one @j1m
Another very good example of the coinage of 14th century Crimean? areas.



The text above the date on the first Zeno almost looks like sultan, but there is no sign of the arabic letter for "n"


On the fourth Zeno coin, it seems to be 'sabea' (seven)


Interesting, and agreed very hard to definitively attribute to a specific group. I don't think there is much doubt about the date though.
The mint workers of the time seemed to struggle with mirror image when making their dies.

Nice examples!

I looked a little closer at the ancient and medieval coins at the show this weekend. I wanted to dip a pinky toe in and get familiar with what was available. You guys have rubbed off on me. Just a a little.

For today's 1371 I have a Muzaffarid silver two dirhams
Obv (RH image)> Kalima within square surrounded by the names of the four followers (Ali, Omar, Abu Bekr and Uthman)
Rev>Shah Shuja's name, Mint in the center, date written around (772 AH = 1371 AD). Lar mint.

For 1370, another Muzaffarid 2 dirhams
Kalima within square surrounded by the names of the four followers (Ali, Omar, Abu Bekr and Uthman) / Shah Shuja's name, Mint in the center, date written around (771 AH = 1370). Shraz mint.

Good for you, jbuck. Live on the edge!

I missed that one, a nice example too.

Yesss... join usss... on the dark siiiide




Oh, my... that one leaves me speechless.