FATIMID, AL-MUSTANSIR (427-487h) Dinar, Barqa 448h Weight: 4.17g Reference: Nicol 1701 Extremely fine and extremely rare. Ex Baldwin’s ‘Classical Rarities of Islamic Coinage’ auction, 25 April 2012, lot 114. Barqa is the Arabic form of the Greek Barce, a city in Cyrenaica famed in antiquity as the source of the silphium plant, which appears on many ancient Greek coins produced there. The Fatimids were the only Islamic dynasty who issued gold and silver coins at Barqa, and this is the latest known date in which the mint was operational. The Baldwin’s cataloguer suggested that this dinar may have been struck when al-Mustansir was attempting to recapture Tunisia from the Zirids, who rebelled against the Fatimids during the 440s.

Estimate: GBP 12500 - 15000