★ Ex Leu 53, 21-22 October 1991, 380 ★

ISLAMIC, al-Andalus (Spain). Umayyads. 'Abd al-Rahman III ibn Muhammad, as caliph, AH 316-350 / AD 929-961. Dirham (Silver, 25 mm, 3.46 g, 11 h), Madinat al-Zahra, AH 337 = AD 948/9. Citing Muhammad, ‘lā ilāha illā / Allāh waḥdahū / lā sharīka lahū / Muḥammad’ (‘There is no deity but Allah, the One, there is no partner to Him. Muhammad’ in Arabic); in the margin, ‘bism Allāh ḍuriba hādhā al-dirham bi Madīnat al-Zahrā sana sabʿ wa thalāthīn wa thalātha miʾa’ (‘In the name of Allah. This dirham was struck in Madinat al-Zahra in the year 337’ in Arabic). Rev. Citing the caliph’s title al-Nasir li-Din Allah, ‘al-Imām al-Nāṣir / li-Dīn Allāh ʿAbd al-Raḥmān / amīr al-muʾminīn’ (‘Imam al-Nasir li-Din Allah ʿAbd al-Rahman, Commander of the Believers’ in Arabic); in the margin, ‘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). Album 350.9. Areas of weakness and with some deposits and minor doubling, otherwise, good very fine.

From a major collection of Oriental coins formed in Europe between 1975 and 1985, Leu 53, 21-22 October 1991, 380 (with original ticket).