Uncommon Umayyad Silver Dirham al-Walid ibn Abdel Malik 95 AH 714 AD Darabjir Mint
Description: A beautiful very fine or better Umayyad silver dirham struck in 95 AH (714 AD) during the reign of the Caliph al-Walid son of Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan. Al-Walid ruled the Islamic world in the period 86-96 AH (705-715 AD). Al-Walid's father Abd al-Malik is the Umayyad Caliph responsible for the reformed coinage in the Islamic world. This beautiful coin clearly shows the mint location being Darabjird and the year of minting being 95 AH. This is a nice coin that is nicely dark toned. The coin has a pleasing appearance and looks much better in reality. Please carefully review the scans presented as it is part and parcel of our description.
Date: Struck 95 AH or 714 AD.
Mint: The coin clearly shows mint location being Darabjird.
Size and Weight: This is a silver dirham, weighs ~2.9 grams and is ~25.5 mm in diameter.
References: It is Album 128, is listed in Lane Poole Catalogue of the Collection of Arabic Coins Preserved in the Khedivial Library in Cairo Egypt as #93, and is listed in al-Ush as 758.
Condition: I would grade this coin as a very fine with a good and well centered strike having beautiful Calligraphy. The coin shows soiling on both the obverse and the reverse, which can be seen in the scan. The coin is much better than the scan shows. The coin also has some scratches and bag marks all of which can be seen in the photos. Other than that the coin is problem free and looks much better than the scan shows. It is a nice looking coin. 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 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 located in Dimishq (current day Damascus in Syria), while silver coins were minted throughout the Muslim empire.
