384, Lot: 680. Estimate $100. Sold for $65. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ISLAMIC, Umayyad Caliphate. Uncertain period (post-reform). AH 77-132 / AD 697-750. Æ Fals (15mm, 2.53 g, 9h). Menorah type. Iliya (Jerusalem) mint. D. Barag, “The Islamic Candlestick Coins of Jerusalem,” INJ 10, type 4; Walker, Arab-Byzantine 605; Album 163; ICV –. Fine, earthen black-green patina.

From the Dr. Lawrence D. Sporty Collection.

This series begins with a seven-branched candelabra, as the menorah, but appears to have been fairly quickly reduced to five branches. Barag (p. 47, note 40) raises the possibility of this symbolizing the Five Pillars of Islam. In an another possible appropriation of the traditional Jewish symbol, Album (p. 22) notes: “Turned upside-down, this design resembles the dome of a mosque, which may have been the engraver’s intention.”