Fun Uncleaned Lot Find-- Umayyad 'Abd Al-Malik "standing Caliph" Fals

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Author	Replies: 4 / Views: 1,296
Finn235 Pillar of the Community United States 6130 Posts	Posted 11/29/2016 1:24 pm Inching my way through my backlog; got this in a lot of mostly cull Arab and Byzantine coins from Israel; about $1 per coin. This is neither rare nor valuable, but it is very historically signifcant, and my first of the type. Umayyad Caliphate 'Abd al-Malik Struck 693-697 AD AE Fals Obv: Full-Figure Caliph standing, resting hand on hilt of sword, Arabic legends around (you can see it if you really squint) Rev: Byzantine "cross on steps" design with cross transformed into ~~tootsie pop~~ globe on pole. Arabic legends and mint marks surrounding. This is, AFAIK the first "Islamic" design used on a coin, when al-Malik woke up and realized the irony of putting Christian iconography on the currency of a patently non-Christian theocratic empire. It is also the last (non-territorial) Umayyad coin to feature the human form; as the very last pre-reform currency switched to legends, and then we see the familiar fals-dirham-dinar system emerge. Here is the Zeno page for the type: http://www.zeno.ru/showgallery.php?cat=5673 Discussion and corrections welcome... it's been slow around here lately.... Report this Post to the Staff

echizento Moderator United States 23731 Posts	Posted 11/29/2016 2:58 pm It's always nice to find an interesting coin in an uncleaned lot. Report this Post to the Staff
Kamnaskires Pillar of the Community United States 7066 Posts	Posted 11/29/2016 8:05 pm Some interesting history in that little chunk o' bronze. Good pick-up. Report this Post to the Staff
Spence Moderator United States 34427 Posts	Posted 11/29/2016 9:26 pm @finn, I think you are getting as good as bob at discerning a coin's attribution from the slimmest of clues. It is a nice pick-up despite the rough fabric. I don't see this coin listed in my 2nd Edition of Album's checklist. Maybe he added at some later point? "If you climb a good tree, you get a push." -----Ghanaian proverb "The danger we all now face is distinguishing between what is authentic and what is performed." -----King Adz Report this Post to the Staff
january1may Pillar of the Community Russian Federation 5176 Posts	Posted 11/30/2016 7:34 pm Interesting coin! If the "walking back by decades" thread ever gets past where it's currently stuck, this coin would be very appropriate to post there... it's just barely too early to get the thread unstuck, however. (Incidentally, I believe that there have actually been some skipped decades in said thread during the period after it stopped being managed by Medieval and before it started being managed by Spence. I'll try to look for them specifically.) Report this Post to the Staff
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Fun Uncleaned Lot Find-- Umayyad 'Abd Al-Malik "Standing Caliph" Fals