★ An exceptionally rare dirham from the mysterious mint of al-'Al ★

ISLAMIC, Umayyad Caliphate. temp. Suleiman ibn 'Abd al-Malik, AH 96-99 / AD 715-717. Dirham (Silver, 27 mm, 2.50 g, 7 h), al-'Al, AH 97 = AD 715/6. Album 131. SICA II, -. Of the highest rarity. Edge chipping and some deposits, otherwise, very fine.

The mysterious mint of al-'Al only issued dirhams once, in the year AH 97. The exact location of the mint remains uncertain to this day, with Tiedenhausen proposing Astan al-'Ala, a district west of Baghdad. With only a handful of known examples, its coins are an extreme rarity, indicating that al-'Al only operated for a very brief time, perhaps some months, or even weeks.