★ An attractive dinar of Sayf al-Din Qutuz ★

ISLAMIC, Mamluks. al-Muzaffar Sayf al-Din Qutuz, AH 657-658 / AD 1259-1260. Dinar (Gold, 22 mm, 5.42 g, 1 h), al-Iskandariya (Alexandria), AH 658 = AD 1259/1260. Balog, Mamluk Sultans, 22. Good very fine.

Al-Muzaffar Sayf al-Din Qutuz was bought as a slave by al-Mu'izz 'Izz al-Din Aybak, the first Sultan Mamluk of Egypt. Qutuz quickly became the right-hand man of the sultan and remained influential throughout the rein of the next Mamluk ruler, al-Mansur Nur al-Din 'Ali I, until he had him executed in November 1259 in order to claim the throne for himself. A few months later, Al-Muzaffar had a resounding victory over the Mongols at Ayn Jalut ('Spring of Goliath' in Arabic), but he murdered was soon thereafter and succeeded by the infamous Baybars.