SHADDADID OF ANI: Manuchihr b. Shawur I, 1072-1118, AE dirham (2.71g), NM, ND, A-1492R, Zeno-123258 (this piece), citing the ruler Manuchihr on obverse, the Seljuq overlord Malikshah I on the reverse, normal strike for this extremely rare type, crude VF, RRR. Ani had been the capital of the great Bagratid Armenian kingdom 961-1045, taken by the Byzantines in 1045, conquered by the Seljuqs in 1064, who then granted the city and its immediate surroundings to a branch of the Shaddadid dynasty, at first to Manuchiri b. Shawur, who ruled for there for 46 years. It was later periodically seized by the Christian kingdom of Georgia, then to the Mongols and their successors by 1236, largely destroyed by an earthquake in 1319. The village was later part of the Safavid territory, then acquired by the Ottoman Empire in 1579, completely abandoned by the end of the 18th century. Now located in modern Turkey near the border with Armenia, the remaining ruins were named a UNESCO World Heritage Site on 15 July 2016.

Estimate: USD 150-240