Pre-reform issues, Arab-Sasanian. al-Hajjaj b. Yusuf and Bara b. Qabisa. AH 75-95 / AD 694-713. AR Drachm (31.3mm, 3.28 g, 2h). Jayy mint. Dated AH 76 (AD 695/6). Good VF.

Islamic Auction 5 - Session 1
Lot: 6. Estimated: $ 40 000

Pre-Reform Issues, Silver

Sold For $ 50 000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

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Pre-reform issues, Arab-Sasanian. al-Hajjaj b. Yusuf and Bara b. Qabisa. AH 75-95 / AD 694-713. AR Drachm (31.3mm, 3.28 g, 2h). Jayy mint. Dated AH 76 (AD 695/6). Obverse field: Sasanian bust with al-Hajjaj bin / Yusuf in field to right.
Obverse margin: bism / Allah / ☪︎ / la i- / laha i- / lla A- / ☪ / llah wa- / hdahu / Muhammad / ☪ / rasu- / l A- / llah / Reverse field: Fire-altar and attendants; sitt wa saba‘in to left, Jayy to right.
Reverse margin:duriba al-Bara bin / Qabisa / — / —. Malek, Arab-Sasanian fig. 9.25.2 = BN 1965.571 (same obverse die); SCC 159; cf. Morton & Eden auction 48 (4 April 2011), lot 7; Album J37. Minor cleaning marks. Good VF. Extremely rare.

Al-Bara b. Qabisa al-Thaqafi was appointed governor of Isbahan in AH 76, succeeding ‘Attab b. Warqa. He is only named on extremely rare drachms stuck at Jayy in this year, which name al-Hajjaj b. Yusuf, who was also a relation, on the obverse as his overlord.

This is one of the first drachms struck in the name of al-Hajjaj b. Yusuf. The coin's design is still obviously Sasanian, with no modification of the bust on the obverse or the fire-altar and attendants on the reverse. But its legends and design mark a clear departure from previous Arab-Sasanian types, with the long shahada arranged radially in the obverse margin, and all the information on the coin written in Arabic rather than Pahlawi.

Coins of this type were only struck at two mints: Jayy, as here, and al-Mada‘in (Ctesiphon - ‘The Two Cities’), and while al-Hajjaj continued to issue Arab-Sasanian drachms at a number of mints in Fars, their designs reverted thereafter to more traditional types. Drachms struck from AH 77 onwards reverted to using Pahlawi for the mint and date (although almost all still bore al-Hajjaj’s name in Arabic), and the radial legends were replaced by shorter, more conventional inscriptions.



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