Experts in Coins & Medals

CILICIA. Tarsos. Circa 410-385 BC. Stater (Silver, 22 mm, 10.72 g, 11 h). Satrap, bearded and wearing a bashlyk and Persian costume, riding a horse prancing to right, holding the reins with both his hands; in the upper left field, bee flying upwards. Rev. 𐡆𐡓𐡕 = Ṭrz = (Tarsos in Aramaic) Hoplite, wearing a Corinthian helmet and wearing a short chiton, kneeling to right, holding a couchant spear with his right hand and defending himself with a round shield, held with his left; in the field to right, large barley ear; the whole within a square dotted frame, in a swallow incuse square. Casabonne Type F6. Müseler, Tarsos, Group 5, h. SNG Paris 221 var. (location of the ethnic). SNG von Aulock 5912 (same dies). With a seemingly realistic portrait on the obverse; probably the most ambitious obverse die in the series. Reverse slightly doubled and with a minor test cut on the edge, otherwise, nearly extremely fine.

ISLAMIC, Umayyad Caliphate. temp. Marwan II ibn Muhammad, AH 127-132 / AD 744-750. Dirham (Silver, 25.5 mm, 2.85 g, 4 h), Al-Jazira, AH 128 = AD 745/6. In the center in three lines: لا اله الا / الله وحده / لا شريك له (There is no god but Allah alone, he has no partners); In the margin: بسم الله ضرب هذا الدرهم بالجزيرة سنة ثمان و عشرين و مئة (In the name of Allah, this Dirham was struck in al-Jazira in the year 128). Rev. In the center in four lines: الله أحد الله / الصمد لم يلد و / لم يولد و لم يكن / له كفوا أحد (He is God the One, God the eternal, He begot no one nor was He begotten, and no one is comparable to Him), Qur'an 112:1-4; In the margin: محمد رسول الله أرسله بالهدى ودين الحق ليظهره على الدين كله ولو كره المشركون (Muhammad is the Messenger of God, he sent him with the guidance and the religion of truth, to show that it is above all religions, however much the idolaters may hate this), part of Qur'an 9:33. SICA Vol. 2, 516/7. Good very fine.