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Coin
New York, United States of America
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
About The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Dated Hegira 79/ AD 698–99
99.35.2386
Gold
Diameter: 2.1cm
Umayyad
Syria
The first Muslim rulers relied on older Byzantine and Sasanian mints to keep a constant supply of coinage in the newly converted lands. Modifications to older types occurred gradually over the first century of Islam. Crosses on Byzantine-style gold coins, for example, were the first visual elements to disappear. ‘Abd al-Malik’s gold reform in 696–97 resulted in totally new coin styles without figural imagery of any kind. Instead, coins like this one made during his reign feature the shahada (profession of the faith) in stately kufic script: “There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the messenger of God.”
Bequest of Joseph H. Durkee, 1898
Former owner: Joseph H. Durkee, New York (until d. 1898; bequeathed to MMA)
Bates, Michael, Islamic Coins. ANS Handbook 2, New York: American Numismatic Society, 1982: 14.
Ekhtiar, Maryam, Canby, Sheila R., Haidar, Navina and Soucek, Priscilla P. (eds), Masterpieces from the Department of Islamic Art in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011: 22, 32, no. 8, ill. 32 (colour).
Walker, John, A Catalogue of the Arab-Byzantine and Post-Reform Umaiyad Coins. Volume 2. A Catalogue of the Muhammadan Coins in the Collection of the British Museum, London: British Museum, 1956.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bequest of Joseph H. Durkee, 1898
"Coin" in Explore Islamic Art Collections. Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;EPM;us;Mus23;4;en
MWNF Working Number: US3 04
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