720 Islamic Coin Umayyad Silver Dirham Umar bin Abdel Aziz 101 AH al-Basra XF++
Description: Umayyad silver dirham struck in 101 AH (720 AD) during the reign of the Caliph Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz. Umar ruled the Islamic world in the period 99-101 AH (717-720 AD). His father was Abdell Aziz son of Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan. Abd al-Malik is the Umayyad Caliph responsible for the reformed coinage in the Islamic world. This nice extremely fine or much better coin clearly shows the mint location being al-Basra in Iraq and the year of minting being 101 AH. The coin lightly toned with very nice and readable calligraphy and great eye appeal. Please carefully review the scan as it is part and parcel of our description.
Date: Struck 101 AH or 720 AD.
Mint: The coin clearly shows mint location being al-Basra.
Size and weight: This is a silver dirham, weighs ~2.6 grams and is ~26 mm in diameter.
References: It is Album 133, Wilkes 243, and is listed in Al-Ush book titled Arab Islamic Coins Preserved in The National Museum of Qatar as number 713.
Condition: I would grade this coin as a good extremely fine or much better with a well centered strike and beautiful and readable Calligraphy. The coin is nicely toned and shows even and honest light wear. It has some surface marks, such as scratches and bag marks. The coin, which would make a great addition to your collection, has beautiful eye appeal. Please see photo to appreciate the quality of the coin and 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 and silver dirham. The dinar weighed 4.25 grams, or one mithqal, of the highest purity gold possible. The dirham weighed about 2.85 of the purest possible silver composition, which would maintain a solid coin. At the time the center of power and the main gold coin mint was in Dimishq (current day Damascus in Syria), while silver coins were minted throughout the Muslim empire.
