Oliver White
Head of Department
Lot 230
An Abbasid fragment of glass dinar-weight with an unpublished and important inscription Egypt, Latter part of the 2nd century
23 April 2013, 10:30 BST
London, New Bond Street£3,000 - £5,000
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An Abbasid fragment of glass dinar-weight with an unpublished and important inscription
Egypt, Latter part of the 2nd century
Egypt, Latter part of the 2nd century
of white colour
31mm. diam., 1.87gr.
31mm. diam., 1.87gr.
Footnotes
Four line inscription to centre:
wafin/ dakhel bayt/ al-mal
"... full-weight/ Entering in/ the House of the Treasury"
Traces of circular inscription around:
akramahu Allah 'ala yaday..."
From the apparent diameter this item cannot be anything other than a dinar weight. The term dakhel (with long 'alif) is in the form of a present participle: "Entering the House of the Treasury." It is therefore the first and only record of an explicit connection between glass-weights and state finance institution, the bayt al-mal or "State Treasury". We can accept the idea that users of these weights and stamped measures had to buy them from the state, which had the monopoly on their fabrication. They probably also had to pay some taxes connected with their uses.
Of great historical importance.