302, Lot: 221. Estimate $100. Sold for $220. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

HUNNIC TRIBES, Hephthalites. Before AD 700. AR Drachm (33mm, 3.33 g, 3h). Imitating a Drachm of Salm ibn Ziyad (Governor of Khurosan, circa 680-684) from the Herat(?) mint. Crowned bust right; in the name of Salm ibn Ziyad, but without bismallah in margin; c/m: Sogdian legend / Fire altar flanked by attendants; blundered mint and date. Göbl, Dokumente –; cf. CNG 60, lots 1094-5 (for similar obv.); Album 18 note. Good VF, some deposits. Interesting.

In AH 61, Salm bin Ziyad was appointed Governor of Khurasan by the Umayyad caliph Yazid I. Just a few years later, bin Ziyad was deposed and replaced by ‘Abd Allah bin Khazim. The new governor quickly threw in his lot with the rebel faction led by bin Zubayr, dragging Khurasan into internecine conflict. Meanwhile, the Hepthalites took advantage of Arab distraction and invaded the region. In such a fractured state, Khurasan could not resist the Huns, and the whole of the province fell under Hepthalite control for a brief period.

This coin was struck after the deposition of bin Ziyad, but omits the standard bismallah found on the Umayyad issues. This and related imitations (cf. CNG 60, 1090-6) seem to have all been produced in the same Khorasanian locality, by the same Sogdian speaking peoples. The group minting these imitations was plainly impartial to whether the prototype was Sasanian (with Khusro II types) or Arab-Sasanian (imitating either Salm bin Ziyad or ‘Abd Allah bin Khazim).