ISLAMIC, Persia (Post-Seljuk). Khwarizm Shahs. 'Ala al-Din Muhammad II, AH 596-617 / AD 1200-1220. Broad Dirham (Silver, 29 mm, 5.94 g, 10 h), Herat type, date effaced. Citing the ʿAbbasid caliph al-Nasir li-din Allah (AH 575-622 / AD 1180-1225); ‘lā ilāh-a illā Allāh / Muḥammad rasūl Allāh / al-Nāṣir li-dīn Allāh / amīr al-muʾminīn’ (‘There is no deity but Allah. Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. al-Nasir li-din Allah, Commander of the Believers’ in Arabic); traces of mint and date in the marginal legend. Rev. Repetition of the obverse legend; traces of ‘huwa alladhī arsala rasūlahū bi al-hudā wa dīn al-ḥaqq liyuẓhirahū ʿalā al-dīn kullih’ (‘He [i.e. Allah] is the one who sent His messenger with guidance and the religion of truth, so that He may make it overcome all religions’ in Arabic). Album 1717.1. Rare. Areas of weakness, otherwise, very fine.

From the collection of Dr. D. Löer, formed since the 1970s.