Extremely Rare Drachm with Anomalous Date

286, Lot: 475. Estimate $300. Sold for $800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

'Abd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr. Rival Caliph, AH 60-73 / AD 680-692. AR Drachm (3031mm, 4.10 g, 9h). DA (Dārābjird) mint. Dated YE 51 (AH 62/3 / AD 682/3), but struck AH 64 or later. Crowned Sasanian-style bust right; bism allāh·.· – ·.· in margin / Fire altar flanked by attendants; · · in 1st quarter of margin. SICA I, -; SCC -; Walker -; Album 16. Good VF, lightly toned, slight bend to flan. Extremely rare.

From the J. P. Righetti Collection, 47.

The standard coinage of al-Zubayr for Dārābjird begins with the date YE 53 (other mints use the Hijrī calendar), i.e., following the death of the Umayyad Caliph Yazid I in 64h. Album, however, notes in the Ashmolean catalog (SICA I p. 20): “There are two anomalous coins of the caliphal type that predate the death of Yazīd I. One is struck at Dārābjird with the clear (Yazdigerd) date 51 (AYWPNCA), the other at Istakhr with the equally clear (Hijrī) date 61 (AYWKWŠST). Both are extremely rare and most likely the result of the reuse of old reverse dies.”