Islamic Scarce AE dirham w/eagle, Nasir al-din Mahmud (1201-39), Artuqids of Kayfa and Amid

ISLAMIC, Anatolia & al-Jazira (Post-Seljuk). Artuqids (Kayfa & Amid). Nasir al-Din Mahmud. AH 597-619 / AD 1200-1222. Dated AH 610 (in Eastern Arabic numerals; AD 1213/4). Double-headed eagle displayed on ornamental base; Artuqid tamgha on breast; mint formula and AH date in right and left fields / Name and title of Nasir al-Din Mahmudand Ayyubid overlord in four lines; name of Abbasid caliph in margins. 27mm, 7.09 grams. Hisn Kayfa mint. Whelan Type IB, 152-3; S&S Type 15; Album 1823.1.

The medieval figural copper coins of the Artuqids, Zangids, and other contemporary Islamic dynasties are among the most remarkable and unusual issues in Islamic numismatics. Their designs frequently borrowed from ancient Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Persian coinage, reproducing classical busts, imperial portraits, mythological figures, astrological symbols and even the bust of Christ alongside Arabic inscriptions naming Muslim rulers and their titles. This extraordinary fusion of classical imagery and Islamic epigraphy produced a distinctive and often strikingly beautiful coinage, virtually unparalleled in the medieval Islamic world.

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