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UMAYYAD: Anonymous, ca. 705-715, AE fals (3.84g), Baniyas, ND

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:520.00 USD Estimated At:800.00 - 1,000.00 USD
UMAYYAD: Anonymous, ca. 705-715, AE fals (3.84g), Baniyas, ND
SOLD
700.00USD+ buyer's premium + applicable fees & taxes.
This item SOLD at 2011 Apr 22 @ 12:31UTC-7 : PDT/MST
Opening bids do not reflect absentee book bids that have been received.
UMAYYAD: Anonymous, ca. 705-715, AE fals (3.84g), Baniyas, ND, A-A170, W-—. SNAT-254 (same reverse die), Bone-1a, some flatness, boldly clear mint name, Very Fine, RRR, from an American collection.

The mint name can be read as baniyas without the prefix b for bi ("in") or as bi-anbulus, which can be interpreted as "in Nablus", a city in Palestine that had struck Arab-Byzantine coins some 50 years earlier, with the Greek name Neapolis, abbreviated as NEA, or as just the "officina" mark N beneath the M on the reverse. A much later coin, struck by the Isma'ili ruler Bahram al-Da'i and dated AH521 clearly shows the name bi-baniyas and can thus securely be assigned to Baniyas rather than Nablus (SNAT-258), both calligraphically and historically. My personal preference is that this coin is from Nablus, not Baniyas.