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ARAB-BYZANTINE: 'Abd al-Malik, 685-705, AE fals (3.08g), Sinjar

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:2,500.00 USD Estimated At:3,000.00 - 4,000.00 USD
ARAB-BYZANTINE: 'Abd al-Malik, 685-705, AE fals (3.08g), Sinjar
SOLD
2,500.00USD+ buyer's premium + applicable fees & taxes.
This item SOLD at 2012 Jan 13 @ 09:32UTC-8 : PST/AKDT
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ARAB-BYZANTINE: 'Abd al-Malik, 685-705, AE fals (3.08g), Sinjar, A-3530var, uncertain mint reading, could be blundered form of Qinnasrin, pleasing Very Fine.

This extremely rare type is likely from the previously unpublished mint of Sinjar in Syria, for the following reasons:
1. The town of Sinjar lay along the medieval highway from Halab (Aleppo) to Homs, close to the border between the Jund of Qinnasrin (Aleppo, Halab in Arabic) and the Jund of Homs (Hims). The star to the right of the circle-on-steps is standard only at the mint of Hims but is found occasionally on fulus of Halab, in the Jund of Qinnasrin.
2. The scholar Rene Dussaud reported in 1927 that there is archeological evidence that Sinjar was an active town in the early Islamic period.
3. This specimen was found at Sinjar.
4. Extremely rare, only 3 specimens confirmed to exist, this lot specimen, one the Ashmolean Museum (SICA-1:686), and a piece of poorer quality in a private collection in England. The consignor believes that a 4th specimen may exist, also found at or near Sinjar.