Extremely Rare Islamic Gigliato

CNG 99, Lot: 959. Estimate $500. Sold for $2200. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ISLAMIC, Anatolia & al-Jazira (Post-Seljuk). Aydins. Baha' al-Din Ghazi Umur I Beg. AH 734-749 / AD 1334-1348. AR Gigliato (28mm, 3.78 g, 3h). Imitating a Neapolitan gigliato of Roberto I il Saggio (the Wise) d'Angiò. Agios Theologos (Selçuk) mint. + NOnЄTΛ : QuЄ : FIT : In : ThЄOLOGOS : (coin which is made in Theologos), king enthroned facing, holding lis-tipped scepter and globus cruciger; throne decorated with lions; cross on breast / + : DЄ : NΛnDΛTO : DnI : ЄIUSDЄn : LOCI : ( by order of the lord of this place), cross fleurée; lis in quarters. Schlumberger p. 485, 7 and cf. pl. XVIII, 15; Scarfea, Imitazioni 995; Metcalf, Crusades –; CCS –; Album –. VF, toned. Extremely rare.

From the Michael Joffre Collection.

Following the collapse of the Seljuqs of Rum in the early 14th century, a collection of Turkish beyliks, or small principalities, took over the regions comprising ancient Ionia, Caria, and Lydia. Many of them established friendly trading relationships with the Crusader successor states in the Aegean, and made use of copies of the Italian gigliati in their commerce. Eventually the gigliato was replaced by the Turkish akçe, as the beyliks were soon to be absorbed by the most powerful of their number, the Ottomans. Mehmet II, the conqueror of Constantinople, brought the last of the emirs under Ottoman control by 1480.