Iraq, Jalayrid, Shaykh Hasan, Silver Dinar, Baghdad Mint, Square Kufic style, 1335-1356 AD About Very Fine

These curiously shaped square silver dirhams were struck by the Almohamad Caliphate, founded by Ibn Tumart, a member of the Masmuda, a Berber tribe that controlled much of Northern Africa and Spain at the time. They were struck between 1121-1269 AD making them around 800-900 years old and have Arabic script on both sides showing mint marks and declarations of faith but are undated and anonymous, meaning that they are not attributable to any single ruler. The square shape was probably symbolic and linked to the emergence of the Square Kufic script that emerged in the 12th century, influenced by Iranian architecture. They certainly weren’t the first to strike square coins as the Indo-Greeks had done this over 1000 years before but since these dirhams are also quite thin, one practical reason for their shape would be to make it easier to cut them from a larger flat piece of metal.

When the Arabs conquered Iran, one small pocket of resistance held out in the mountains of Ṭabarestān, led by a governor of the province, a Sasanian prince. The area was named after the Tapurians who had been deported there by the Parthian king Phraates I and was famous for its silk fabrics. In the early 8th century (711-712), they began issuing these distinctive coins like those of the Sasanians but with half the weight. The coins have a portrait of a Sasanian emperor, to the right of the portrait is a ruler or governor’s name written in Pahlavi script. On the reverse there is a Zoroastrian fire altar with attendants on either side. Zoroastrianism was the first religion known to be practised in western Asiatic history. At the far left is the year of issue expressed in words, and at the right is the place of minting, TPWRSTʾN (Ṭabarestān). These coins are now around 1250 years old and are in wonderful condition.

Although these large 1000 kronen note bear the date 1902, they were actually issued in 1919 (P59 & P61) At the end of the First World War, the Austrian Hungarian Empire was broken up and Austria became an independent Republic. They are densely engraved in blue. The front features a young girl in a frame with garlands of flowers in her hair. while the back features a young girl to the left and right with a patterned design below (P61).