ISLAMIC, Mongols. Ilkhanids. Abu Sa'id Bahadur, AH 716-736 / AD 1316-1335. 2 Dirhams (Silver, 24 mm, 3.57 g, 12 h), Type C, known as the ‘miḥrāb’ type, Tabriz, AH 723 = 1323/4. Within a miḥrāb-shaped design, ‘Allāh / lā ilāha illā / Muḥammad / rasūl Allāh’ (‘There is no deity but Allah. Muhammad is the messenger of Allah’ in Arabic); the names of the four Rashidun Caliphs in two lines below; around, ‘fasayakfīkahum Allāh wa huwa / al-samīʿ al-ʿalīm’ (‘So Allah will suffice thee against them, and He is the Hearing, the Knowing’ in Arabic; Qurʾān 2: 137). Rev. Within a lobated square, ‘ḍuriba / fī ayyām dawla al-sulṭān / ḍarb / al-aʿẓam Abū Saʿīd / Tabrīz / khallada Allāh Mulkahū’ (‘Struck in the days of the state of the Supreme Sultan Abu Saʿid. May Allah perpetuate his kingdom. Struck in Tabriz’ in Arabic); at the sides, ‘naʿama ˗ Allāh ˗ al-naṣr’ (‘May Allah bless victory’ in Arabic); in the margin, ‘fī sana thalāth wa ʿishrīn wa sabʿa miʾa’ (‘In the year 723’ in Arabic). Album 2200.2. Diler Ab-489. Struck slightly off center and with areas of weakness, otherwise, extremely fine.

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