European coins with Arabic inscriptions

spoon

While we're discussing Crusader era stuff...

I've been building a mini type set of Norman Sicilian coinage. Several of these coins feature Arabic inscriptions on one side and Latin (Western) inscriptions on the other. Now that I'm getting satisfied with my Sicilian collection, I think it'd be neat to expand out into other medieval European coinage with Arabic inscriptions.

That's where I need your help. I don't fully know what's out there. Really, other than Sicily, the only coin I know of specifically is Huszar 73, a Hungarian scyphate coin from the time of Bela III (1172-1196).

I'm not necessarily looking for European lands under Muslim control (Almoravid Spain, Ottoman Balkans) or straight up imitations of Islamic coinage (though I will dabble in each), but rather coins from independent European states that use Arabic or pseudo-Arabic script. If the coin also has Latin (Western) text or any kind of figures, that'd be a great plus!

I'll try to post some pics of the Sicilian ones I have later, but they're a royal pain to image! Small, old, dirty copper...

josemartins

There is a single Portuguese issue with Arabic inscriptions, a Ceitil issued by D. Manuel I (1495-1521), references: Gomes E1 04.01 or Vaz E1.67, but its a scarce coin (and expensive).

Jose

Sapyx

<< <i>I'm not necessarily looking for European lands under Muslim control (Almoravid Spain, Ottoman Balkans) or straight up imitations of Islamic coinage (though I will dabble in each), but rather coins from independent European states that use Arabic or pseudo-Arabic script. If the coin also has Latin (Western) text or any kind of figures, that'd be a great plus! >>


I'm not sure there's much at all in that category, and anything you find is likely to be extremely rare. Any non-Muslim country using Arabic or pseudo-Arabic on their coins is going to be imitative in nature, and the coins they'd most likely imitate are the gold coins - they had the highly regarded European penny to model for the silver, and most places (except for Sicily) didn't bother with bronzes.

In the Anglo-Saxon series, there's an extremely scarce gold "dinar" of King Offa - a reasonably faithfully reproduced Islamic dinar, right down to the Caliph's titles and the date (AH 157, or 774 AD). The only difference is "OFFA REX" in Latin replacing part of the Islamic Kalima.

A similar issue in Spain in the 1100's, during the Reconquest - Alfonso VIII struck imitative gold dinars known as "morabitini" or "alfonsini", with legible Arabic inscriptions. A cross and the King's monogram, ALF, replaced part of the Kalima, and the date was recorded in the "Spanish calendar", years since the Roman conquest of Spain in 38 BC, rather than the Islamic calendar.

Philip Grierson, in his book "Coins of Medieval Europe", describes the Hungarian-Islamic coinage as "strange and anomalous", of whose existence "a satisfactory explanation has [not] yet been found".

spoon

Interesting. Thanks for the responses, guys!

I was afraid this might be a short list but held out hope that perhaps a crusader state I was unaware of minted some in this category.

So what then of the imitative ones other than gold? (I really should work on expanding my library so I don't have to bother folks here so often! ) Weren't there some in the Russian region? I'm really going brain dead now!

spoon

Since I can't seem to take any decent pics of what I have, here's the seller's pic of one:

Norman Sicily, William II (1166-1189), follaro, Spahr 118