Fals From The Garb Al-Andalus - Crescent And Stars ?

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Author	Replies: 6 / Views: 806
jecz79 Pillar of the Community Portugal 655 Posts	Posted 10/01/2023 3:51 pm This is an atypical one among those I have. None of the others have the crescents and the star thing decorating the fields. I will be taking a while to get a work more recent than John Walker's, so I will be asking here about some. Would the legend in the center be something like this? There is no god but Allah Mohamed is the envoy (prophet?) of Allah With over three dozen to view in detail and compare, there is one conclusion I am forming. These fulus were struck in the size they have today. There are no indications of clipping. These coins are unlike the dirhams that were cut in even pieces or in slices. Thick copper would be impractical to clip. If fractions were needed they would perhaps be cut in half like the dirhams. But I see none like that. Few appear in irregular shape like this one. I think this was deformed from the start, the original metal that was struck. Some coins were overstruck, they have lettering in different orientations. Also kufic but different legends. It looks like not much care was required to prepare copper for coinage. Recycling was acceptable. So if they were made in different sizes, could it have been a feature ? I wonder if the monetary system of the age could have had two or three different sizes and values of copper coins. All struck from the same dies? Only the larger ones would show the other legends near the rim. Museums and its catalogs paid more attention to what they regarded as full coins. Dismissed the smaller ones as damaged. I think this collection came about in part from discards of digs in the early twentieth century. They dismissed them then as too small to be worth cleaning and displaying. Report this Post to the Staff

Kushanshah Pillar of the Community United States 1554 Posts	Posted 10/01/2023 6:24 pm This is Frochoso II-d. It's a North African type. Many African coins came into Spain in years following the conquest. Note the unusual epigraphy with mid-word line breaks. You are reading the legend correctly. In English, rassul is usually translated as "prophet" or "messenger". Report this Post to the Staff
jecz79 Pillar of the Community Portugal 655 Posts	Posted 10/02/2023 06:37 am Thank you. Nice to know I have at least one from north Africa also, and perhaps pre-invasion. I am not really reading but comparing with similar legends, already translated, in the other coins I have. The obverse legend appears in many coins. It is in the reverse that the line breaks in mid-word? The end of the first line is unfortunately worn or weak. Report this Post to the Staff
Kushanshah Pillar of the Community United States 1554 Posts	Posted 10/02/2023 07:40 am It:s both sides. Unfortunately this forum's code is stuck in 1995 and won't let me type in Arabic to show you. On the obverse it's la ilah i- / -llah Allah and on tbe reverse, Muhammad r- / -assul Allah. Compare this similar variety: https://www.zeno.ru/showphoto.php?photo=166278 Edited by Kushanshah 10/02/2023 07:55 am Report this Post to the Staff
jecz79 Pillar of the Community Portugal 655 Posts	Posted 10/02/2023 5:14 pm Oh I see. This is odd because I have several more with the same obverse line breaks. And at least three have provenance history, were found in the western region of the peninsula. I had thought copper coinage was a local affair and would not travel far. But perhaps they came at the time of the invasion? Those centuries were sadly neglected by historians for many years. I understand that the information about the mint region and year would be at the margins. Perhaps something is legible in this one. If I am not abusing your goodwill, can you read some of the border legends? There is also one more line to the center obverse legend, in this one. Other thing that made me thing these were not early coins were the overstruck ones, like this. Assumed this was a later, peninsular type because of it. But I cannot figure what was overstruck on what. Report this Post to the Staff
Kushanshah Pillar of the Community United States 1554 Posts	Posted 10/02/2023 7:01 pm The first coin is from al-Ramla in Palestine. The visible portion of the margin reads: bism All[ah] ... [bi'l-Ram]la. The extra line on obverse is the word wahdahu ("He is alone"), typical of Syria & Palestine. https://www.zeno.ru/showgallery.php?cat=6079 I'm not sure what's going on with the second coin. It may be a double strike rather than an overstrike. Edited by Kushanshah 10/03/2023 05:08 am Report this Post to the Staff
jecz79 Pillar of the Community Portugal 655 Posts	Posted 10/03/2023 12:14 pm Thanks. So no doubt that one was struck in Palestine. It would have to travel very far to be found in the other end of the Mediterranean sea. Nice, that was a surprise. That one did not had any information about where it was found. I assumed they were all found in the peninsula. The ones in this group that the previous owner published about were. Perhaps I shouldn't assume anything about the ones lacking a history. I must try to discover if there is an unpublished catalog of these coins with the history of where each one was found. The last one above, you are right, in the reverse it looks like the same die rotated. But the obverse, those are different letters? Report this Post to the Staff
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