Arabic Coins And How To Read Them 452d4b

ARABIC COINS and how to read them by

Richard J. Plant

CONTENTS P•No ~~

© Richard J. Plant 1973, 1980

Ctue»t.r 1 Ch•t.r 11 ctupt91111 Ch8pl9r IV Chmptmr V C'1••r VI Ch1Pt•r VII Chlflt9r VIII Ch1111l9r IX Ctupt.r X

5 The numerals . Arllbic dating The Alphabet Mint and date on Ottoman coins. List of recent sultans Coin denominatiom . The plural Four coins with Ottomen connectlons. Nemes Modem royal coins. The short vOYWll sign Morocco. Non-royal colns The Kufic script Kufic dating Mohammed and the early Caliphate. Umaiyid Caliphs. Early ~u

First Edition 1973 Second Edition ( revised) 1980 ISBN O 900652 52 7

DEDICATION to my wife Anne and sons Peter and Stephen

An Umaiyid coin examined. The velb The Abbasld coin. Abbasid Caliphs The developing Kufi type. Secular rulers Tt'le Umaiyids of Spaln. Shi'ítes. The' Fatimids Sultans of Delhi. Their earlier coins Later Dethi coins. The Mohammedan kingdoms of India The Almohades. The Ayyubids and the Memluks The Seljuk advance. The Seljuks of Rum. The Urtuqids and Zengids Ch111tmr XIX The history and coinage of ttle Mongols. The llkhans Ct111pt11r XX Post-llkhanid Persia. The Persian couplet ChlP'*' XXI The Safevid Shahs. Nadir's chronogram. Honorific epithets Chlfl1111' )(XII Qajar Shahs. Persian numbers. Afgtlan ruters Ch1Pt•r XXIII The Moghuls, and their eartier coins. Persian solar months Chlpt1r XXIV Later Moghul coins Chmpi.r XXV Moghul reverses. Company coins, and coins of Native States Ch11Ptltr XXVI Malaya and lndonesiP Answars to the E1tllt'clVoc:lbulery Append ices: Numismatically important Ayyublds The Ghaznavids Tha Samenids Chronological Lists of Ruters Lists of Mints Errat• Ch9'1taf' XI Chapi.r XII ChaptM .1(111 Ch•t., XIV Ch111111r 1'.V Ch1P19!' XVI Chaptlf XVII Ch1111tmr XVIII

lndex

Published by Seaby Publications Ltd Audley House, 11 Margaret Street, London WlN 8AT Printed in Great Britain by Robert Stockwell Ltd., London, SE1

7 10 14 18 22 26

29 32 34 ~

40 44 48 53 58

65 72

78

86 94 100

106 114

119 124

129 132

138 149 150

150 151

FOREllVORD Reading Arabic is fun. Persevere long enough at least to get throug h the " alphabe1 barTier", a n da whole ne w world will open up to the collector thri:.ugh h is own coi ns. ''T:rwih Youueff 1Amb1c" tmd o t htr .9J'UmmM bOOIG Jllll in to ~pli:r.:a.tll.d Iln.clensi:oiu nnd coniu¡¡aüon'$ ftt '.ll verv early cllllga;·and ' in ·a n.v caa·t h!! vucabulDT.V".tllll{jht ii$ m>l t>f tha tyµii nerr&ld by me rumiismafl:u. Of whn.t u$1l to liim·-ore .l>hnnes llke ''.tite tome !iirt'bs'in thl! yellow .room" ·or jjirl,111Pfllll< the'.lTUt h and'fü¡ not ''.?

·ro

1 am not mn:tií1¡g the ~.At11bic. Aftllr mntt111'ing 1tiis book he w i ll.not be.ablll ':!O.,Qll •.Out "ond hold 11 converatéon .w ith11n. Amb; btit 'he .will hlM! .llOt the '"'$tart" he nee.dJ towants'lln 11n00rstt1ndh19J:1f cólru 'ilW;libOO in Arabic.. T:he .Aratiic ·Blphllbe.t 1in 'tact covcR.a nun$róf llln..11uages - .Arntiic'1s Stlmiri.c: P8Y.1 ian i$ lnd0-Euro~11; :and Matav.en b :10 the lll'iOley.o-flolvneiían JlrOup. Ol'ífllnlnte.s ar.e not j!Jl't o f "dlafo.ct. t hey:m:e .o1 bnSfc·~TUi:ture. r1-1o~. Anil:Hc 'in11ff ·¡¡ tt111<1·n11v inip0rtt1nt olll!,J.l&at.ing·a

Tl!lefüirulljp 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 .lndr,on ofiúin ' inaciilJlld until verv te~ent times in .Al'ibi:c. A 1imlt4d kno~ ol l'~ian will .atso be 1MCl!ffllr:y .for unraveUiog ihe f>~ian poeilc coup~ts ' fouad on lndiiln anti Parsian "C!lin~ parfü:utarly llul'ing Jhe seven.taenth .ond.l!i.g ntl!em h <Wntur'ies A.O . 1 innmd to Sírqplíf.Y 1h¡rigs 1Q muahau !)0$ilble. Pr.orwn~.¡jfiol\, for in1.1Bna, ia not o f pr'ime ' innionance to tilo numl1111afü~. $> only -a rou¡jh «qtiivulent 'is ,.given - a numbllr of , An!blc let:.tera·are ttan.s a'lbechls "Z''.. "Z" is n&aT•eTioughl Again, ! \ntend ·to:le.ave out 1he A~ic'~horrvowel,.svmho11¡,exmip~ just to.e xplain v.d:la• : the5a 11re. r lntend .t o :.!uvtt out .casa er'ldings whue the:slt lite Wl'ftteri in the Al'Jlblc¡ ,ai .the njajor ity lm!, !>Y shon·vowel& and· "nl41\ittion" symboJr, Wl'llch are. not u.swlly.thown on:the :
·"OJthei 10 ths-llttdot being eble .io malcll 001 a.he writing oó it . A coin with a ·more•complléeted i ilúi:tlpll'on il!jill ' tend ~&be ! blo1111n up'I ll\Gfll than a c:iDln with '#iting ltiat. b~sily· ll!iJlble. In man CIUI!$ 1ote11.w out &he ·ma11v 'dots 110d ma r.ks'Whiclt one tí nds on 1flfle.ti: rel="nofollow">Jní. bUl Wltlcb 11re

CHAPTER 1

The numerals. Arabíc dating

Our easiest topic will be the numera l ciphers, so here we begin .

5

4

2

European Arabic

E:.

"

or ~

o

6

7

"1

V

8

"

Figures do vary considerably in shape. 5, fo r example, may be O or they tip to the right, ~ for 6, <. for 7.

9

~

o

C. Occasionally

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 O• and V•• , \Nhich is put together and written in their usual way from right to 1eft as VOt.This means that for practical purposes Arabic numerals 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 ith 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 1arge Turkish copper coin with t • in the centre is a 40 para coin. But our main concern w ith Arabic numerals is for working out dates . Dates a re nearly a lways "Anno Hegirae" rather than "Anno Domini" - A.H. rather than A .O. The Hegira was the "F light", Mohammed's flight from Mecca 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 of the Moslem year being lunar 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 t'Yt"' we must do three things . (1) We change it into European numera ls.\l't'I"' becomes 1223. (2) As there a re three more lunar years per hundred than there are solar, we subtract 3%, i,e. 3 12 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.

x

So our sum is 1223 A.H. 37

, not'J)ilrt ·of 1hé in:rqoiption - marks Which-c.o
1186 + 622

1~in "w ith '· thé. Oiunnan_ Eippi,re'¡ - trol)ing that - the .tHríU·:of. ' dlscov8t:l"9 11'1et 1tiese . com rnoa,,coíns can, t:Je lnterpreted.. wry 11.&sHy. 'will inducé· 1~1eader w f-ollollj!:tbrougb to the •. mor~ madern-,Arilbl<:- CDins, .and ..tlJen, by tllrs·•ta~,being famíl iar 'w ith 1he Atabic:alaphabet, to e• ta<:k le'. t he ear ly i:uin.s rtl'llight 1roni 1tw World , of the', ''Ar@ion1'NigJits" ¡ from. lhe: <11ltt.tred ; é!vj timion 1hat geve µs ,.amon!Jft o t hcr lhiogs¡ Af911bral From here we- ·movl!: to~ajplin, end ' ~in nt 1hl! realm of:.Pérslan 11nd lni:lian.i:oins.

GQ.Uil!lllelJLlO

0111., •r miatt;snleeti.oo qf- posslbli; legendf cn lt'bíc' lonkcnh1. In '11 sn'H1ll¡book'Jlk8' ltiill;; but bie11I l •:Will ~tiaw •succeedl!d if.~.thar•ie&:f•l.l"iJains a n inl!lTl!U, 111 hil Arable i:Dint; if· pertiapt it ' maklís' h1fT4lO ounind buy. morV bot:ila"Ott-the. sybject .

~ ·exanilroi .a c•:iin _of M <'occo ,..;¡tti the dlt.'lll 'tJ7t. No 1need 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 itien we·oootra2.

-

= 1808 A .O.

1223 .A.H. ·¡1 ·the dltro 1of 1he 'Jle!3l'ssion .ni tl'ftlllltt1m:inJlu1.nn1, Milhmu.d ll;a1nd·ttils 'is

ll!OO A\D .. 0

:f.hll:1um.tflll:ds

·cn1 A JH. ~ lruJO

..~ 6X! "".HlS2.'»..D.