Sale: Triton VII, Lot: 1200. Estimate $4000.  Closing Date: Monday, 12 January 2004.  Sold For $4250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SPAIN, Castille. Alfonso VIII. 1158-1214. AV Moribitino (Mancus) (3.86 gm). Toledo mint. Dated Safar era 1222 (1184 AD). Pseudo-Kufic legend with cross flanked by pellets above and ALF below, marginal legend "Struck at Toledo in 1222, Safar era" / Five line legend with star flanked by pellets below. C&C 997; Friedberg 101. EF. ($4000)

The gold coins struck by the early Spanish kings were intended to replace the Almoravid dinars found in wide circulation in the region. The extensive issues of Alfonso VIII of Castille were known as Moribitini or Alfonsini, elsewhere they are termed mancus. Alfonso still reigned over a large Muslim population, and the types were acceptable to the merchant classes that dealt with both Muslims and Christians. Although the legends are in Arabic, the sentiments expressed are Christian, and the dates are given not in Christian AD years, but in the local Safar era, beginning in 38 BC.