The Death of Saladin

316, Lot: 483. Estimate $100. Sold for $150. 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 (30mm, 13.35 g, 9h). Dated AH 589 (AD 1193). Three standing figures around central seated figure / Legend within circle citing the Abbasid Caliph al-Nasir; titles of Arslan and AH date in marginal legend. Whelan Type III; S&S Type 35.2; Album 1829.3. Good Fine, brown and green patina.

From the J.P. Righetti Collection.

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 (corroborated by the death of Saladin in 589).