ARABIC COINS and How to Read Them

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ARABIC COINS

and how to read them

y

Richard J Plant



© Richard

J.

Plant 1973, 1980

First Edition 1973

Second Edition revised) 198

ISBN O

900652 52

7

DEDICATION

to

my

wife Anne and sons Peter and Stephen

Published by

Seaby Publications

Ltd

Audley House, 11 Margaret Street,

London

WlN 8AT

Printed in

Great

Britain

by Robert

Stockwell Ltd., London, SE1

CONTENTS

P• o

5

Ctue»t.r

1 The

numerals

. Arllbic dating 7

Ch• t . r

The Alphabet 10

ctupt91111 Mint and date

on Ottoman

coins. List

of

recent sultans

14

Ch8pl9r

IV

Coin

denominat

iom . The plural 18

Chmptmr V Four coins with

Ottomen

connectlons. Nemes 22

C 1• • r VI Modem royal coins

.

The short vOYWll sign

26

Ch1Pt•r VII Morocco.

Non-royal colns

29

Chlflt9r VIII The

Kufic script

32

Ch1111l9r IX Kufic

dating

34

Ctupt.r X Mohammed

and

the early Caliphate. Umaiyid Caliphs. Early

~

Ch9'1taf' XI An Umaiyid coin examined. The velb 40

Chapi.r XII

The

Abbasld

coin. Abbasid

Caliphs

44

ChaptM 1 111

The developing

Kufi type. Secular

ru

lers

48

C h • t . ,

XIV

Tt'le Um a

iyi

ds of Sp al

n.

Sh i ítes. Th e' Fatim ids 53

Ch111111r 1'.V

Sultans of

Delhi. The

ir

earlier coins 58

Ch1P19 ' XVI Later Deth i coins.

The

Mohammedan kingdoms

of

India 65

Chaptlf XVII The Almohades. The Ayyubids

and the

Memluks 72

Ch1111tmr XVIII

The

Seljuk advance. The Seljuks of Ru m .

The

Urtuqids and

Zengids

78

Ch111tmr

XIX The history and

coinage

of

ttle Mongols.

The

llkhans

86

Ct111pt11r

XX Post-llkhanid

Persia. The

Persian

couplet 94

ChlP *

XXI

The

Safev

id Shahs.

Nad

ir s chronogram . Honorific epithets 1

Chlfl1111 )(XII Qajar

Shahs. Persian numbers. Afgtlan ruters 106

Ch1Pt•r XXIII

The

Moghuls, and their

ea r

tier coins. Persian solar

months

114

Chlpt1r XXIV Later Moghul coins

119

Chmpi.r XXV Moghul reverses. Company coins, and coins

of

Na tive

States

24

Ch11Ptltr

XXVI Malaya

and

lndonesiP

129

Answars

to the

E1tllt cl-

132

Voc:lbulery 138

Append ices: Numismatically

important

Ayyublds

149

Errat•

lndex

The

Ghaznavids 150

Tha Samenids

Chronological

Lists

of

Ruters

Li

sts of

Mints

150

151



FOREllVORD

Reading Arabic is fu n .

Pe

rse

vere

long enough at least

to

get throug h the " alphabe1

barTier

",

an

d a

whole ne w

world

will

open

up to the collector th ri:.ugh h

is

own coi ns.

''T:rwih

Youueff

1Amb1c" tmd o t htr .9J'UmmM

bOOIG

Jllll

in

o

~ p l i : r . : a t l l d

Iln.clensi:oiu

nnd coniu¡¡aüon'$

f t t

.ll verv

earl

y cllllga;·an d ' in ·an.v ca a·th vucabulDT.V".tllll{jht i

i$ m>l

>f tha t yµi i

nerr&ld by me rumiismafl:u. Of whn. u$1l to liim·-ore .l>hnnes llke ''.tite tome iirt'bs'in thl yellow

.room" ·

or ·r jjirl,

1

1Pfllll< th e '.

lTUt h an d

'

fü¡ no t '

'.?

1 am

not

mn:tií1¡g

the

t 1 1 b i c Aftllr mntt111'ing 1tiis book he wi ll.not be .ablll : O.,

Qll

•Out "

ond hold 11 converatéon

.with 11n.

Amb;

btit he

.will hlM .llOt the

"'$tart" he

nee.dJ towants'lln

11n00rstt1ndh19J:1

f cólru

'ilW;libOO in Arabic..

T:he

.Aratiic ·Blphllbe.t1n

tact

covcR.a n u n ró f

llln..11uages - .A

rn

tiic'1s

Stlmi

r

i.c:

P8Y.

1ian

i$

n d 0 - E u r o ~ 1 1 ;

:and Matav.en b :10

the

lll'iOley.o-flolvneiían

JlrOup.

Ol'ífllnlnte.s ar.e no t j Jl't of

"dlafo.ct. t

hey

:m:e

.o1

b n S f c ~ T U i : t u r e . 1 1 o ~ . Anil:Hc 'in11ff ·¡¡ tt111<1·n11v inip0rtt 1nt olll ,J.l&at.ing·a

Tl lefüi

rulljp

to otoor

Orianu1 lanJ1wtJlll:$

Oól .unfike ·

01-

111 of

Latín to

1he larigul Jes o'1 Europe.

Jllst

11.$

1media6va1

EUl'QPQ1ln coim

an1 ' inscribOd ' in l;Jitl l,

so 31m 1hll

11llijoi'ity

..ni

lile

c;s:iina

ol

Norih .AWan, "Tu r.lé.isli, Peniian, and .lnd ron ofiúin ' inaciilJlld until verv t e ~ e n t times in .Al'ib i:c.

A 1imlt4d k n o ~ o l l ' ~ i a n will

.atso be

1MCl ffllr:y .for

unrave

U

og

ihe f > ~ i a n po eilc

c o u p ~ t s ' fou ad

on

lndiiln

anti

Parsian C l i n ~

parfü:utarly

lul'ing Jhe se ven.taenth .ond.l i.gntl emh

<Wntur'ies A.O .

1 innmd

to

Sírqplíf.Y

1h¡rigs

1Q muahau )0$il ble .

P r . o r w n ~ . ¡ j f i o l \ for in

1.1Bna, ia

no

t of

pr'ime 'innionance to tilo 1 1 1 1 a f ü ~ $ > only -a

rou¡jh

«qti ivulent ' is ,.given - a numbllr of

,An b

lc

let:.tera·are ttan.

sa'lbechls

"Z''.. "Z " is n&aT•eTioughl

Again, \nt

en

d·to: le.ave

ou

t 1he ~ h o r r v o w e l s v m h o 1 1 e x m i p ~ just

to

.exp lain v.d:la•

the5a

11re. r lntend

.to :.

uvtt

out .casa er'ldings

whue

the:slt l i te

Wl'ft

teri in the Al'Jlblc¡ ,ai .the

njajo

r

i ty

lm ,

>Y

shon

·

vo

wel&

an d

· "nl41\ittion"

sym

bo

Jr,

Wl'llch

are.not u.swlly.

hown on

:

the

: <ioins .

For

simplicitv's--

salte.;

thase llrtt

,also.<

fttft out of :

the

: trama«optioll-

t h e .

Afabié in

E w : o p n n 1 i t t u m ·lri;óther w

nr

m the Am b

io.o

f tbls.book:is·no f ü s t y 9 1 1 1 m m : D 1 i c a l t t u i ~ i 1 t n i s

béeo'sJmPlifledV.,he<aver- pcri1ible .

With ngard

to the

illustnitions,

:rltt.

ir

.not rehnl d t a

the-actual

' si71t

ot "

út4f. coJ1í,

but

·"OJthei 10 ths-l l t tdot being eble .io m lcll 00 1 a.he

writing

oó it . A coin with a ·more•complléeted

i ilúi:tl

pll'on

il jill ' tend blo1111n up 'I ll\Gfll than a c:iDln

with

' i ting t i a t b ~ s i l y l l i J l b l e . In

man

CIUI $ 1o

e11.w o u t

&he ·

ma11v 'do

ts

110d ma r.ks'Whiclt

one tí nds

on 1flfle.ti:>Jní. bUl Wltlcb 11re

, not'J)ilrt ·of

1hé

in:rqoiption - marks Which-c.o< b1vvt fy, conl·úsl 'IQ.

1 "w i

th

'· thé. Oiunnan_ Eippi,re¡ - trol)ing that - the .tHríU·:of. ' dlscov8t:l"9

11'1et

1tiese

. com rnoa,,coíns ca n, t:Je lnt erpreted

.

wry 11.&sHy.'will inducé· ~ 1 e a d e r w f-ollollj :tbrougb to the

•. m o r ~ madern-,Arilb l<:- CDins, .and . tlJen, by l l r s b e i n g famíl iar 'with 1he Atab ic:alapha

be t

, to

e•

ta<:k le

.

he ear

y i:uin.s rtl'lli

gh

t 1roni 1tw Wor

ld

,of the'

,

'Ar@i

on

1

NigJits" from. lh e: <11ltt.tred

; é vj timion 1hat geve µs

,.

amon Jft o t hcr lhiogs¡ Af911bral

From here we-

·movl :

~

a j p l end

nt

1hl

realm of

:.Pérslan

11nd

lni:lian.i:oins.

0111.,

•r miatt;snleeti.oo

qf-

posslbli;

legendf

cn lt' bíc' lonkcnh1. In '11

sn'H1ll

¡

book

Jlk8' ltiill;;

but

bie11I l •:Will t i a w •

succeedl d

. t h a r i e & : f • l . l " i J a i n s an in l lTl U,111 hil Arable i:Dint; if · pertiapt it

' maklís' h1fT4lO

ounind bu y

. morV bot:ila"Ott-the.

sybjec

t .

CHAPTER 1

The numerals. Arabíc dating

Our eas iest topic will be the

nume

ral ciphers, so here

we

begin .

European

Arabic

2

"

4

E: or

5

o

6

1

7

V

8

"

9 o

Figures

do

vary

considerably in shape.

5, fo

r example,

may

be O or C.

Occasionally

they tip to the ri

ght, for 6,

<.

for

7.

All Arabic is written

from

right

to

left, but in the case of

numbers

this is cancelled out

by the

fect

thet Arabs

speak

of

them

the opposite way

round from the

way

we

do . 754 is

to

them

"Four and fifty and seven hundred", t and • and

V•• ,

\Nhich is

put

together and

written

in th eir

usual

way from right

to

1eft as V O t .This means that for practical purposes

Arabic

numera

ls

are

"

the

right way

round"

as

far

as

we

are

concerned

.

Note that in Morocco they have used European numerals

for

the past two

hundred

years

,

andan Arabic

coin w it h European

numerals

on it

probably comes from Morocco

or. just

possibly, Tu nis .

We need a

knowledge

of numerals to

work

out the

den-0mination

of a coin .

For

example, a 1

arge Turkish copper

coin with t • in the centre is a

40 para

coin. But our main

concern with Arabic numerals is for working

out

dates .

Dates

a

re nearly

a lw

ays "Anno Hegirae" rather than

"Anno Domini" -

A.H.

rather

than A .O. The Hegira was the "F light", Mohammed's fl ight from

Mec

ca on 16th

July 622AD

.

But to change an

A.H

.

date

into an A.O. ene we have

to

do more

than

jusi add 622; we have to

take account

of the Moslem year being l

unar

and

only

heving

354 days, as compared with

our

solar year of 365Y. days. A hundred

Moslem

years are equal to ninety-sewn of our years .

This

meaos

that when

faced

with

a

date

1ike

1

'Yt '

we

must do three

things

.

(1)

We change it into European numera ls .\l't'I"'

becomes 1223

.

(2) As there are three

mo

re lunar years per

hundred

than

there

are solar, we subtract

3%, i,e. 3

x

2

for the

1200 A.H.,

and another

1

for

the

remaining

23 , as

this

is getting

on

for a

third

of

another hundred,

making

37

altogether.

(3) We add 622, to bring A.H. back to the same starting lineas A.O.

So

our

sum

is

1223 A.H .

37

1186

+ 622

-

1808 A .O.

1

223

A.H. ·¡1 ·

the dltro 1of 1he

Jle 3l'ssion .ni tl'ftlllltt1m:inJlu 1nn1, Milhmu.d ll ;a1nd ·ttils

is

GQ.Uil lllelJLlO

ll OO

A\D

..

·exanilroi

.a c•

:iin _of M<l<'occo

,..;¡tti

0

th

e

dlt.'lll

't J 7 t .

No

1

need tc:l

Jl'd'ltUliter.aw

ilfü. Wl

.wbtl'lUlt 3x13 fl)r thc luind01ds A:H . Jin:d 2 mor.e l:JC.cal Jl 71 is'11.b0ut tWU-thírtb·:ot11 b1rth1n

hundre.d,:end itie

n

we·oootra2.

:f.hll

:1

um .tflll:ds

·

cn1

AJH.

~

lruJO

.. 6X

"".HlS2.»..D.

















































































































































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ARABIC COINS and How to Read Them