148, Lot: 492. Estimate $100. Sold for $67. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ISLAMIC DYNASTIES, Artuqids of Mardin. Nasir al-Din Artuq Arslan. AH 597-637/AD 1201-1239. Æ Dirham (34mm, 14.94 g, 9h). Mardin mint. Dated AH 606 (AD 1203/4). Male figure sidesaddle on leopard left, holding dagger and cup; name of Nasir with title “Malik Diyarbakr” around / Name of Abbasid Caliph al-Nasir in three lines across fields; AH date in voids; name and title of Ayyubid overlord al-Adil Saif al-Din Abu Bakri ibn Ayyub, and mint name in outer margin. S&S Type 39. VF, brown patina. Struck on large flan.

From the Henry Chitwood Collection.

the tpe seems to be adopted from hellenistic representations of Dionysus, but the exact meaning in this case remains obscure.