724 Islamic Coin Umayyad Silver Dirham Yazid II bin Abdel Malik 105AH Wasit Iraq
Description: Umayyad silver dirham struck in 105 AH (724 AD) during the reign of the Caliph Yazid Ibn Abd al-Malik. Yazid II ruled the Islamic world in the period 101-105 AH (720-724 AD). His father Abd al-Malik is the Umayyad Caliph responsible for the reformed coinage in the Islamic world. This beautiful very fine or much better coin clearly shows the mint location being Wasit in Iraq and the year of minting being 105 AH. The coin has a beautiful toned appearance. Please carefully review the scan as it is part and parcel of our description.
Date: Struck 105 AH or 724 AD. Mint: The coin clearly shows mint location being Wasit in current day Iraq.
Size and weight: This is a silver dirham, weighs ~2.5 grams and is ~24 mm in diameter.
References: It is Album 134 and is listed in Lane Poole Catalogue of the Collection of Arabic Coins Preserved in the Khedivial Library in Cairo Egypt as number 198.
Condition: I would grade this coin as a good very fine or much better with a well centered strike and beautiful Calligraphy. The coin has a few scratches, some minor bag marks, and it may have been clipped from 2 to 7 o’clock as can be seen in the first and second photo. The coin is nicely toned and has some wear, but still with great eye appeal and very readable. The coin is much better than the photos suggest. It is a nice-looking coin worthy of a spot in your collection. Please see photo 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 wighed 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 located in Dimishq (current day Damascus in Syria), while silver coins were minted throughout the Muslim empire.
