90, Lot: 165. Estimate $100. Sold for $74. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ARAB-SASANIAN. Tabaristan. Umar ibn al-Ala. 771-780 AD. AR Hemidrachm (23mm, 2.00 gm). Dated PYE 125 (776/7 AD). Sasanian style bust imitating Khosrau II right; Arabic marginal legend / Fire altar flanked by attendants; date and mint, fleurs-de-lis in margins. SIC Ashmolean 410; Walker, Arab-Sassanian -; cf. Album 56. EF, light earthen encrustation. Scarce variety.

From the Bellaria Collection.

The only other Tabaristan hemidrachms showing the lis replacing the typical triple pellets on the reverse are anonymous issues of PYE 142-143 (cf. Walker, Arab-Sassanian pl XXVII 16-18).