ISLAMIC, Fatimids. al-Mustansir billah, AH 427-487 / AD 1036-1094. Dinar (Gold, 21 mm, 3.32 g), third standard type (bull’s-eye type), Tarabulus (Tripoli), AH 441 = 1049/50. Three concentric circles of inscription around a central pellet; inner inscription, ‘lā ilāha illā Allāh Muḥammad rasūl Allāh’ (‘There is no deity but Allah. Muhammad is the messenger of Allah’ in Arabic); second inscription, ‘wa ʿAlī afḍal al-waṣiyyīn wa wazīr khayr al-mursalīn’ (‘And Ali is the most excellent of the executors and Vizier of the best of messengers’ in Arabic); outer inscription, ‘Muḥammad rasūl Allāh arsalahū bi al-hudā wa dīn al-ḥaqq liyuẓhirahū ʿalā al-dīn kullih wa law kariha al-mushrikūn’ (‘Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. He sent him with guidance and the religion of truth, so that He may make it overcome all religions, even though the unbelievers may dislike it’ in Arabic). Rev. Three concentric circles of inscription around a central pellet; inner inscription, ‘al-Mustanṣir billāh amīr al-muʾminīn’ (‘al-Mustansir billah, the Commander of the Believers’ in Arabic); second inscription, ‘daʿā al-imām Maʿadd li-tawḥīd al-ilāh al-ṣamad’ (‘Imam Maʿadd summons [everyone] to confirm the oneness of God, the Absolute’ in Arabic); outer inscription, ‘bism Allāh ḍuriba hādhā al-dīnār bi Ṭarābulus sana iḥdā wa arbaʿīn wa arbaʿa miʾa’ (‘In the name of Allah. This dinar was struck in Tarabulus in the year 441’ in Arabic). Album 719A. Clipped and struck from corroded dies, otherwise, very fine.

From a European collection, formed before 2005.