Extremely Rare Makka (Mecca) Mint Dirham

Triton XXI, Lot: 949. Estimate $5000. Sold for $4500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ISLAMIC, 'Abbasid Caliphate. al-Mu'tadid. AH 279-289 / AD 892-902. AR Dirham (21mm, 2.81 g, 3h). Makka (Mecca) mint. Dated AH 283 (AD 896/7). First portion of the kalimat at-tawḥīd: lā ilāha illā-llāhu waḥdahu lā sharīka la (there is no god except Allah, and one [is] he; (there is) no partner to him) in three lines; in outer margin, Sura 30 [al-rum]:4:4-5:1 li-’llah al-amru min qa[blu wamin ba’du wayaw]ma-idhin yafrahu al-mu’minūna binaṣri al-lahi (To Allah is the will before and after and on that day the believers shall rejoice in Allah’s victory); in inner margin, b-ismi-llāh zarb hazā āl-dirham bi-makka fī sanat thelath wa themānīn wa mi’atain (in the name of Allah struck this dirham in Makka in the year three and and eighty and two hundred (after the Hijra)) / Second portion of the kalimat aṭ-ṭaiyibah: muḥammadur rasūlu -llāh (Muhammad is the messenger of Allah) and name of al-Mu'tadid in three lines; li-’llah above; in outer margin, the “Umayyad Second Symbol” (Sura 9 [al-tauba]:33): [muḥammadur] rasūlu-llāh arsalahu bi-’lhudā wa dīn al-haqq lī-yuzhirahu ’ala al-dīn kollihi walau ka[riha al-mushrikūn] (Muhammad is the messenger of Allah; him He sent with guidance and true faith to make it prevail over all other faiths even though the polytheists may hate it). SICA 4, –; Album 242; ICV 422. VF, toned, minor areas of flat strike at periphery, slightly wavy flan. Extremely rare.

Only from 282 to 293 both dirhams and dinars were occasionally struck at Mecca. Production of these issues was apparently minor, as all these coins are very rare today, and none have ever been found in significant quantities in period hoards.