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Lot 211

An Umayyad glass half-fals weight of 15 qirat in the name of 'Ubayd Allah b. al-Habhab, Finance director of Egypt, AH 102-116/AD 720-734
Egypt

23 April 2013, 10:30 BST
London, New Bond Street

£2,000 - £3,000

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An Umayyad glass half-fals weight of 15 qirat in the name of 'Ubayd Allah b. al-Habhab, Finance director of Egypt, AH 102-116/AD 720-734
Egypt

of pale green colour
26mm. diam., 2.93gr.

Footnotes

Provenance: Frank Linville Collection, Malter Sale XXXIX, 2 April 1989, 104, ill.

Seven line inscription:

bi-sm Allah/ amara 'Ubayd Allah/ ibin al-Habhab mithqa-/ l nisf fals/ khamsat 'ashr/ qirat wa-/fin
"in the name of God/ Ordered 'Ubayd Allah/ b. al-Habhab a weigh-/t of a half-fals/ of fifteen qirat, full-wei-/ght"

'Ubayd Allah b. al-Habhab is the only official known to have issued half-fals (of 12,15,17 qirat) with his name on them (see Balog 1976, 85). The nine known specimens are from the same die (see Morton 1985, 36). Thirty qirat fals weights exist for this Amir (Petrie 1926, 98, description incomplete). A.H. Morton (1985, p. 54) wrote that these pairs of weights (15/30, 17/34 etc.) give proof that the value of the fals was not always fixed at 36 qirat or kharruba.

Additional information