Sasanian Empire, Ṭabarestān, Phraates I, Silver Half Dirham

These 10 and 20 cash coins were struck for the East India Company in Birmingham in 1808. Unfortunately the coins never made it to India; the ship carrying them sunk on the Goodwin Sands and lay undiscovered for almost 200 years. The coins struck were the 10 and the 20 Cash coins. Both denominations are copper and have the arms of the East India Company supported by two lions on one side. The other side has the denomination XX (20) Cash or X (10) Cash and the inscription is in the Arabic. Here we present the X coins, which are in Very Fine, but have seen some edge damage due to their being buried for almost 200 years. Own a piece of British / Indian Treasure coin for far less than you might expect to pay. These are a wonderful conversation piece as well as true treasure coins. Each coin comes with a certificate of authenticity...

Ghiyath al-Din Kaykhusraw II was the sultan of the Seljuqs of Rûm from 1237 until his death in 1246. He ruled at the time of the Babai uprising and the Mongol invasion of Anatolia. He led the Seljuq army with its Christian allies at the Battle of Köse Dağ in 1243 and was the last of the Seljuq sultans to wield any significant power, he died a vassal of the Mongols. Between ca. 1240–1243 a series of remarkable silver dirhams were struck in Kaykhusraw’s name depicting a lion and sun. Generally, Islamic traditions forbid representations of living things so it is very unusual to find such iconography on Islamic coins. Several explanations of the lion and sun have been offered to suggest that the images represent the constellation Leo, the astrological sign of Kaykhusraw’s beloved Georgian wife Tamar or that the lion represents Kaykhusraw and the sun Tamar. Grading Good Very Fine, these are beautiful silver coins struck around 780 years ago. Limited availability and the first time we have offered these coins.

These curiously shaped square silver dirhams were struck by the Almohamad Caliphate, founded by Ibn Tumart, a member of the Masmuda, a Berber tribe that controlled much of Northern Africa and Spain at the time. They were struck between 1121-1269 AD making them around 800-900 years old and have Arabic script on both sides showing mint marks and declarations of faith but are undated and anonymous, meaning that they are not attributable to any single ruler. The square shape was probably symbolic and linked to the emergence of the Square Kufic script that emerged in the 12th century, influenced by Iranian architecture. They certainly weren’t the first to strike square coins as the Indo-Greeks had done this over 1000 years before but since these dirhams are also quite thin, one practical reason for their shape would be to make it easier to cut them from a larger flat piece of metal.