Oliver White
Head of Department
Lot 229
An Abbasid glass dinar-weight in the name of Salih b. Muslim (Executive, circa AH 170-190), under the authority of Ishaq b. Sulayman(?), Governor of Egypt, AH 177-178[?]/AD 793-794 Egypt
23 April 2013, 10:30 BST
London, New Bond Street£2,000 - £3,000
Looking for a similar item?
Our Islamic and Indian Art specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialistAsk about this lot
An Abbasid glass dinar-weight in the name of Salih b. Muslim (Executive, circa AH 170-190), under the authority of Ishaq b. Sulayman(?), Governor of Egypt, AH 177-178[?]/AD 793-794
Egypt
Egypt
of blue colour
27mm. diam., 4.13gr.
27mm. diam., 4.13gr.
Footnotes
Provenance: Julia Schottlander.
Obverse - square stamp, three line inscription to centre:
'ala yaday/ja *iz/ Salih ibin Muslim
"At the hands of/ Current/ Salih b. Muslim"
Traces of inscription running along sides of the square.
Reverse: traces of inscription (?).
Several different types of dinar weights are known with the name of Salih b. Muslim, all very rare. One associating the Finance Director (?) Huwayy b. Huwayy (c. 175AH) and Salih b. Muslim (Fahmi 1957, 220, pl. 26) presents many similarities with the present exemplar. As on this one, the word jaiz is occupying a central position. It means "current/licit" and is regularly present on Umayyad and Abassid copper coinage. It also appears on another rare weight (Bacharach and Awad 1981, 10) where it is read jabir.
This weight has been produced in a particularly interesting period when the first dinars (gold coins) were minted in Egypt, at Fustat, Egypt becoming immediately the most important minting place for gold in the Islamic world. The glass weights production followed that new organization after 170AH.
Unpublished.