Struck the Year of Saladin’s Death

229, Lot: 504. Estimate $200. Sold for $200. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ISLAMIC, Anatolia & al-Jazira (Post-Seljuk). Artuqids (Mardin). Husam al-Din Yuluq Arslan. AH 580-597 / AD 1184-1200. Æ Dirhem (31mm, 12.74 g, 12h). Dated AH 589 (AD 1193). Diademed and draped male bust left; mint name and date around / Three line legend within in circle, citing the Abbasid caliph al-Nasir; titles of Arslan and date in marginal legend. S&S Type 35.1; Album 1829.3. VF, flan flaw on obverse.

The obverse design has long been interpreted as a scene of mourning over the death of Saladin. Spengler and Sayles have argued that it represents Virgo surrounded by planets, and relates to an astronomical event of AD 1186 that was thought to portend calamitous events (such as the death of Saladin in the year that this coin was struck).