★ The Armenian city of Arzanjan ★

ISLAMIC, Mongols. Ilkhanids. Jahan Temur, AH 740-741 / AD 1339-1340. 2 Dirhams (Silver, 19 mm, 1.77 g, 11 h), Type A, Arzanjan (Erzincan), AH 740 = 1339/40. Within an ornate quatrefoil, ‘lā ilāha / illā Allāh 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 the margin. Rev. Within an ornate pentafoil, ‘al-sulṭān / al-aʿẓam Jahān Timūr Khān / khallada Allāh mulkahū’ (‘The supreme Sultan, Jahan Timur Khan. May Allah perpetuate his kingdom’ in Arabic); in the margin, ‘ḍarb / Arzanjān / fī sana / arbaʿīn / sabʿa miʾa’ (‘Struck in Erzincan in the year 740’ in Arabic). Album 2247. Diler Ci-760. Rare. Areas of weakness and with minor deposits, otherwise, nearly extremely fine.

From a European collection, formed before 2005.

Marco Polo visited Arzanjan (modern Erzincan) less than a century after this coin was issued, reporting that the 'the people [of Arzanjan] are Armenians', and that Arzanjan was the 'noblest of cities' and the See of an Armenian Archbishop.