717 Islamic Coin Umayyad Gold Dinar Sulayman ibn Abdel Malik 98H Dimishq Mint XF

Description: A beautiful extremely fine Umayyad Gold Dinar struck in 98 AH (716/717 AD) during the reign of the Caliph Sulayman Ibn Abd al-Malik. Suleyman ruled the Islamic world in the period 96-99 AH (715-717 AD). His father Abd al-Malik is the Umayyad Caliph responsible for the reformed coinage in the Islamic world. Please carefully review the scan as it is part and parcel of our description.

Date: Struck 98 AH or 716/717 AD. Mint: Not mentioned on the coin but known to have been minted in Dimishq.

Size and weight: This is a gold dinar, weighs ~4.23 grams and is ~20.2 mm in diameter.

References: It is Album 130, Wilkes 185, Al- Ush 362-370, and is listed in Lane Poole Catalogue of the Collection of Arabic Coins Preserved in the Khedivial Library in Cairo Egypt as number 28.

Condition: I would grade this beautiful coin as extremely fine or better. The coin is beautiful, shows honest wear and retains some luster. It is problem free and looks great with nice eye appeal. The coin has a well centered strike and beautiful and very readable Calligraphy. The coin has a minimum number of scratches and bag marks, which can be seen in the photos. This is a quality and beautiful coin. It is problem free and looks much better than the photos suggest. Please see photos for additional condition information.

Historic Perspective: The Muslim Arabs used existing gold and silver coinage in lands they conquered. At that time the nascent Islamic nation did not have a monetary system and did not strike neither gold nor silver coins, instead the conquering Arabs used the Byzantine monetary system already existing in Egypt for most of the gold coins and the Sassanian monetary system already existing in Iran for most silver coins with minor modifications. In 77 AH (699 AD) Abd al-Malik Ibn Marwan the Umayyad caliph instituted a monetary system and began striking the first Islamic coins including the gold Dinar. The dinar weighed 4.25 grams, or one mithqal, of the highest purity gold possible. At the time the center of power and the main gold coin mint was located in Dimishq (current day Damascus in Syria).