Your Opinions Please | Islamic (Umayyad And Mamluk) Coppers

They're not gold. A gold coin, even after 1000 years underground, would still look like it was minted yesterday. It wouldn't turn all black-brown like that. These are both copper coins, and both from the Islamic period.

The top one is an early copper falus, 'Abbasid or maybe Umayyad period. The second is a later falus, probably Mamluk. It's 1:30 am local time here; if no-one else has given more information, I'll try to look them up tomorrow.

OK, let's see. Your first coin is definitely an Umayyad falus, from early in the Islamic period; I can't read the date (if the date is present; on coppers, it often isn't) but this one on zeno.ru is very similar and dates from around Year 90 Islamic era (= 709 AD).

The second one appears to be a "triangle decorated" falus of Mamluk sultan Muhammad II, whose brief reign (AH 762-764, AD 1361-1363) nevertheless saw a large amount of these coins produced; see this page for several examples. It could also be of his predecessor, Hasan, though the triangles are more whorl-like on his coins.

Both types are rated as "common" in my checklist of Islamic coins.

Sorry, forgot to get back to you on this one. My "checklist" only gives rarity ratings - for both of these coins, it's "common". It gives a rule of thumb valuation: for common copper coins, prices are typically in the $5 to $40 range (this catalogue dates from 1997).