Thoughts About Pennies and Other Monies*
(2000 presidential address)
Jere L. Bacharach

Reprinted from the Middle East Studies Association Bulletin, Summer  2001 (with changes in orthography to HTML standards).
Copyright 2001 by the Middle East Studies Association of North America
At the end of 1999 I was in Cairo, a city consumed with lavish preparations to celebrate the upcoming millennium.[1] As the great occasion approached, I found myself taking every precaution to be far away from the over-hyped celebratory program to be staged at the pyramids. But, shortly after the event, I had the opportunity to visit Giza, the locus of a massive millennial pilgrimage where, amongst the detritus left behind by the hoards of celebrants, I found archaeological evidence of a civilization I shall call the ‘USAns.’[2]

The coins I discovered are particularly illuminating in the detail they provide about the beliefs and culture of the USAns. An examination of the obverse, or heads, of their coinage demonstrates that the USAns worshipped a god whom they called Liberty.[3] What is fascinating is that the USAns portrayed their god as a bearded male dressed in clothing popular over a century ago. Examining the reverse, or tails, of the copper coin one sees an engraved Roman style temple created to honor their god. On very well preserved examples, the figure of their god seated in his temple can be seen.[4] Additional information concerning the USAns derived from their coinage is that they were bilingual, had formed some sort of united confederation of states, and had a dating system.

Fortunately, the dry climate of Egypt permitted the preservation of another type of numismatic evidence—paper money. The back of the USAns’ one dollar bill makes abundantly clear why so many of the USAns made the pilgrimage to Giza, as their religious traditions placed their All Seeing supernatural power atop the great pyramid.[5] For those who might question my proposal that the USAns were bilingual, let me point out the extensive quotations in Latin as well as English on their great seal. My final observation is that the USAns believed in thirteen as a sacred number. On the reverse of the great seal the eagle, obviously their national symbol, has thirteen stripes on its shield, thirteen arrows in one talon and thirteen feathers on the olive branches in the other, and is surrounded by thirteen stars.

The study of numismatics—coins, paper money, and related material—as well as other non-narrative sources of historic information, whether it be tax records, archaeological remains, or architecture, are all subject to the same methodological problems. Let the user beware of simplistic explanations. Nothing stated above about the USAns is true, but all of it is consistent with the evidence that has been provided.[6] On the one hand, without developing a more sophisticated methodology, interpretations of the information derived from the study of coins or any other non-narrative sources will have as much validity as has just been suggested. On the other, a study of numismatics can suggest periodizations not reflected in the traditional historical narratives, political developments where other sources have been silent, or economic activities for which additional evidence is lacking.[7]

Coinage is not necessary for international trade, market economies, or local exchanges. Pharaonic Egypt and the pre-Alexandrian ancient Near East are two areas that had market economies and were engaged in international trade but used ways other than stamped metal we call coinage to calculate the value of goods.[8] Coinage as we know it first developed among the Greek poli or city-states of western Anatolia in the sixth century BCE.[9] Struck bullion emerged in the West for two reasons: to strengthen a local identity and local pride by stamping symbols, letters, or other identifying marks on the metal, and to enhance economic activities.[10] Thus, it is my contention that when a new coinage is introduced or significant changes appear on an existing coinage, these innovations reflect a series of deliberate decisions. The messages the issuing authority wishes to transmit may be political, religious, economic, or some combination of these and other factors, but they always reflect conscious acts. Nevertheless, in most cases we do not know what they were.

We can only speculate about the reasons for these innovations because memory of them is quickly lost. To meet most market conditions, the dominant or widely accepted coinage must look ‘right.’ A monetary zone is created in which this easily identifiable coinage dominates the markets. Non-Islamic examples include the Athenian drachma in the ancient Greek world and the Venetian ducat in the late medieval Mediterranean. A modern example of the introduction of an innovation and its acceptance in a monetary zone is the case of the US paper currency. Anyone who has traveled overseas in recent years knows that only new US paper money with enlarged portraits is accepted, even though both the old and new circulate simultaneously in the US.

My goal here is to analyze the coinage minted by Muslims, primarily in Egypt, from the earliest period to the thirteenth century. For each period I will use examples emphasizing interpretations that, in most cases, are not dependent on the ability of the user of the coin or, for that matter, the reader of this article, to decipher the engraved Arabic text. Had my paper been devoted to the coinage of any ancient society from Greece and Rome or even medieval societies such as the Byzantine and Sasanian Empires, there would be no need to justify this point. Sadly, this is not the case for Islamic studies.[11] With few exceptions, Islamic coins are noted for the absence of human or animal images, and, it is assumed, significant designs and symbols.[12] There is Arabic script as beautiful writing or calligraphy, but this is often presented as an undifferentiated marker of Islam on the coinage whose symbolic value has remained unchanged since the end of the seventh century. Inscriptional data does exist, but that is not art and most people, then and now, cannot read what is inscribed anyway.

The first Muslims of the Hijaz were familiar with coinage, although they did not produce their own.[13] The gold coins that circulated were known as dinars and silver as dirhams. Coins of these two metals became the subject of later juridical discussions and were considered legal currencies while coins of copper, lead, or other metals rarely warranted such a status.

The first era of Islamic coinage is associated with the period from the Muslim conquests of the Fertile Crescent and neighboring lands until the end of the seventh century and the caliphate of the Umayyad ruler Abd al-Malik (685-705). Within former Byzantine lands, gold and copper issues were most common, although there were no operating Byzantine mints in Greater Syria at the time of the Muslim conquests. New Byzantine issues, with Christian symbols, continued to circulate in Islamic lands even after Muslim governors were established in the area. Silver issues were the predominant coinage of the Sasanian Empire.[14] When their mints fell to the victorious Muslim armies, the governors at first continued minting Sasanian style coins that carried the portrait of a Sasanian monarch on the obverse, a Zoroastrian fire temple flanked by two attendants on the reverse, and inscriptions in medieval Persian written in Pahlevi script.[15]
Arab-Sasanian style silver, Al-Hajjaj b. Yusuf, Bishapur mint, AH 79
Courtesy of Fawzan Barrage)

During the reign of the Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik, however, a series of major innovations were introduced as Muslims sought to establish their own currency with its own ideological and religious messages. Experimental types produced during Abd al-Malik’s caliphate included the portrait of a standing caliph—which may have represented Abd al-Malik himself—and the ‘anazah, or Prophet’s spear, in a mihrab.[16] These experiments culminated with the introduction of the all-epigraphic dinar in 696 and dirham two years later. These are known as the post-reform coinage.[17]

All-epigraphic dirham, Dimishq 
[Damascus] mint, AH 100
Courtesy of Fawzan Barrage

The new coinage was visually so different from its Byzantine and Sasanian predecessors that no one would have had any trouble identifying it as Islamic even if the viewer could not read Arabic, let alone the specific inscriptions in Kufi script. Most scholarly work has focused on the reformed coinage as an example of the new ‘Islamic’ art and, occasionally, on the specific inscriptions engraved on the coinage, including the anti-Trinitarian Qur’anic messages paralleling the same inscriptions in the Dome of the Rock.[18]

What has not been systematically studied are the changes and variations in the coinage over the subsequent century. For example, after 750 the Abbasids replaced the anti-Trinitarian message in the center field of the coinage with an affirmation of Muhammad’s Prophethood, reflecting their self-confidence as Muslims and the corresponding decline of Christianity as an ideological challenge. Eventually, Abbasid coinage included the names of a wide variety of officials such as designated successors, court favorites, governors, mint masters and others, but not in a coherent manner.[19] The Umayyad and early Abbasid post-reform dirhams and dinars did not carry the same exact inscriptions, nor was the information engraved in the same place on the coins.

There were also a series of marginal circles on the new silver dirhams broken up by smaller circles called annulets that varied in number and style.[20] These observations aside, the success of the Umayyad dinars and dirhams in the market depended on the purity of the coins, as well as the ability of traders to rely on high standards being maintained. Umayyad dinars were almost always one hundred percent pure gold. The story of silver dirhams is more complex and we learn more about it from the actions of the first effective Abbasid caliph.

Sometime after coming to power in 754, the Abbasid Caliph al-Mansur issued an edict announcing that among all the Umayyad silver issues—of which there were hundreds of date/mint combinations—only those dirhams minted by order of three particular Umayyad governors in Wasit, Iraq were to be accepted by the Abbasid mint.[21] But, there are two problems when trying to comprehend al-Mansur’s order. The first is that it is not apparent by looking at the dirhams if any one is purer than the other. The second is that no Umayyad governor inscribed his name on the post-reformed dirhams and even if they had it would have taken too long to read each inscription to make the edict economically viable. But it is now possible to understand al-Mansur’s edict and how money exchangers and tax collectors dealt with the problem.

Using modern non-destructive methods of analysis it has been possible to test enough Umayyad dirhams to establish that the dirhams of Wasit during the periods of the three named governorships were virtually pure silver and consistently better than any other Umayyad silver coinage from Spain to Central Asia.[22] The second discovery was that the annulets, those little circles among the outer rings on the Umayyad dirhams, fell into distinct patterns and that for the mint of Wasit, a unique pattern coincided with each governorship. It was also possible to identify three distinct patterns that could be associated with the three governors without having to read a single date or mint name.[23] Memorizing only three annulet patterns enabled Abbasid tax collectors and mint masters to divide Umayyad coinage into two groups, one of which was composed of almost pure silver coins and the other of less pure dirhams. The second pile could then be melted for its silver content and the degree of purity for all the remaining dirhams calculated, resulting in credit equivalent to the degree of purity being given for the coins. Thus, the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur was correct when he declared the coinage minted by the three governors superior. Visual clues on the coins, coupled with knowledge of the purity of these Wasit dirhams, were the keys to understanding his action.

A third period of coins, begins with another Abbasid caliph, al-Ma’mun (813-33), whose reign began with the victory of his armies over those of his brother, the previously reigning caliph.[24] Superficially these coins look like those of the preceding period, with the center field containing three or more lines of text and a circular inscription in the margin. But these dinars and dirhams do differ in a number of significant ways from the earlier, all-epigraphic coinage.

New style all-epigraphic dirham, 
al-Mu’tasim, Madinah al-Salam 
[Baghdad] mint, AH 225

Courtesy of Fawzan Barrage


First, al-Ma’mun added a second circular inscription to the coins—a Qur’anic verse appropriate for celebrating his victory.[25] It is doubtful that knowledge of why this verse became a permanent part of the Abbasid coinage was known by anyone within a year or two of its inclusion. By the time this reform was completed, which would have been about 834, several additional changes had been incorporated. For one, the dinars and dirhams had the same layout and, with the exception of identifying if the coin was a dinar or dirham, they both had the same inscriptions. A different and clearer Kufi script was used, replacing that engraved on the earlier coins. Also, the honorific title of the caliph always appeared on the reverse under the message “Muhammad rasul Allah.” If a successor was designated, and a number of them were, his name would appear on the obverse. On those rare occasions, when another name was added, it appeared in the third position under that of the caliph. Therefore, a hierarchical order was established indicating relative rank by placement.

With minor exceptions, this was the coinage minted in Abbasid lands from North Africa to Central Asia and from the early ninth to the mid-tenth centuries, and in some areas, until the Mongol invasions of the thirteenth century. The reformed currency of Al Ma’mun and his successors all looked alike, with rows of horizontal text in the center field, two circular marginal inscriptions on one side, and one on the other. I suspect that even the number of marginal legends was not examined too closely as long as the main inscription was set in horizontal lines framed by one or two circles of text in a marginal legend. But coinage that looked acceptable in the market could lead to political anomalies. Specifically, the earliest Fatimid coinage issued by the new Shi’i Isma’ili rulers of North Africa looked enough like the Abbasid Sunni coinage that they could be confused with one another, although the messages engraved on each of them were radically different.[26]

But then the Shi’i Fatimid caliph-imams changed the layout of the inscriptions, resulting in what is to be a fourth period. This new coinage, composed of concentric circles of inscriptions, was introduced in North Africa in 953 and was carried to Egypt and Greater Syria when the Fatimids controlled those lands. The choice of the concentric circle design was not arbitrary, as it had a very specific Isma’ili meaning.[27] The center, which could be blank or have a raised dot, symbolized the ultimate truth, known only to the Caliph-Imam. In this semiotic reading of the coin, the outer circle stood for all Muslims while the inner represented the True Believers, or Mu’minum, who knew the hidden meaning of God’s truth. In this model the Mu’minun are a subset of the Muslimun. This interpretation coincides with the Fatimid reading of the Qur’an where there were two levels of understanding, an outer—or zahir–which all Muslims understood and an inner—or batin—known only to those properly initiated. I do not know if there was a semiotic or artistic significance for having three, rather than two circles of inscriptions, but both styles make a clear visual statement that the producers of the coins were neither Sunni nor Abbasid. Nevertheless, the inscriptions continued to be written in a Kufi script. Another visual aspect of this bullseye style coinage, with its blank center, is that one does not know where the circular inscription begins or ends. When there are figures or horizontal lines of inscription in the field of a coin one has a real sense of a top and a bottom and can assume that most inscriptions begin at the top. Thus, Fatimid coinage was visually distinct in a number of ways from the coinage minted in Abbasid lands, leading to the creation of two major monetary zones.

As important for the creation of such geographic zones where visually distinct coinage dominated was the fact that Fatimid dinars were almost pure gold. In this case, the bullion came from West Africa through Fatimid controlled lands.[28] Ruling elites, wealthy members of society, troops, and merchants had to be willing to accept gold dinars and silver dirhams for goods and services. If the stamped metal did not meet that function, the coinage tended to be rejected or to have a limited circulation. This market role tended to re-enforce the tradition that coinage is a conservative medium for artistic innovation. When it is well established, as happened with the high quality Fatimid dinars, the general layout tends to become relatively frozen, although some changes are introduced. For this study, two such changes will be identified: one done by the Isma’ili caliph al-Hakim and another by the Sunni ruler Saladin.

The coinage of the Caliph-Imam al-Hakim bi-Amri’llah (996-1021) began with a number of experiments, including a brief return to the Abbasid style of parallel lines in the central text, but quickly settled into a modified concentric style pattern with an inscription in the center of the field. This new style had a major impact upon a viewer’s ability to ‘read’ the coinage. With the introduction of a central inscription, there was a left and a right, a top and a bottom, and, for those who could read the Kufi inscriptions, a visual clue as to where the marginal inscriptions began. With al-Hakim’s innovations, it is also clear that the original sophisticated, text-based semiotic meaning of the coinage was lost.

Concentric circle style dirham, 
Salah al-Din, al-Qahirah [Cairo] mint, AH 571. Number 1002.1.1028
Courtesy of the American Numismatic Society, New York)

Saladin (1171-83) brought an end to Fatimid Shi’i rule in Egypt in 1171, as vassal for the Sunni Zangid ruler in Syria. Saladin’s dinars are Sunni in that they are inscribed with the names of both the Zangid ruler and the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad. Further political data can be derived from the Egyptian gold issues after 1174 when Saladin dropped the Zangid name from the gold coinage. But for all the political history, which can be reconstructed from the inscriptional data, the dinars of Saladin look just like those of the preceding dynasty.[29] Saladin minted Fatimid style dinars so that these gold issues could pass in the market.[30] It is also possible that the weight of tradition was such that they were unable or unwilling to change the style of the gold coinage.

In 1200, leadership of the Ayyubid family shifted and, at the same time, the new rulers of Egypt introduced a gold coin that no longer looked like Fatimid coinage. These new dinars had a single marginal inscription and a multi-lined central legend. Since this Ayyubid line had no ties to Fatimid Egypt, nor even to Saladin except through a common ancestor, they were in a stronger position to assert their own identity as an independent Sunni dynasty. These Ayyubid rulers may have also wished to send both a political and fiscal message with their innovation. At the same time this coinage continued to use Kufi script for its inscriptions, although the Ayyubids were using the curved Naskhi script for their public texts.[31]

A final example is the coinage of the Ayyubid ruler of Egypt, al-Malik al-Kamil (1218-38), whose first dinars looked like those issued in Egypt since 1200.[32] However, beginning in 1227, all his coinage—gold, silver, and copper—used Naskhi script, a script that would dominate Islamic coinage into the twentieth century. Obviously al-Malik al-Kamil’s action was meant to send a visual message that something had taken place, but what? A study of the fineness of the new style gold coinage does not indicate a significant improvement over earlier Ayyubid dinars.[33] Although some Arabic sources claim that al-Malik al-Kamil had undertaken a reform of the purity of the silver coinage, modern studies challenge that claim.[34] What is new is that the silver coins are significantly larger than previous issues and fall into the general category of Syrian dirhams. Finally, al-Malik al-Kamil’s issuing of copper coinage on a grand scale represents the reintroduction of that coinage into Egypt for the first time in centuries. Thus, the change in script from Kufi to Naskhi made it easy to identify the new coinage in the market, and perhaps the innovation was only meant to broadcast al-Kamil’s actions.

I will conclude this rapid survey by returning to the contemporary world and US coinage. A modern example may better illustrate my points about how innovations are conscious acts and how the original meanings of these acts may be obscure or unknown even to contemporaries.

Beginning in 1971, the US government issued a large silver dollar to honor the memory of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Its size and weight, taken together with the availability of paper one-dollar bills, made it unlikely that anyone expected that this coin would have a major role in the market. Unfortunately for the US mint, the value of the metal in the large coin kept increasing and large numbers were being exported to Canada, where they were being melted down for their metal content. To stop this drain and potential financial loss, the US mint issued a new, smaller one-dollar coin known as the Susan B. Anthony dollar. The appearance of Susan B. Anthony on the coin beginning in 1979 was the first time a real female was honored on a US coin, and it was a direct result of the Carter administration pushing the Equal Rights Amendment. The new coin was a disaster in terms of its use in the market. Consumers constantly confused the coin with the US quarter and vending machines were not adjusted to accept it. By 1981, when the US stopped minting the Susan B. Anthony dollar, the US Treasury was housing millions of uncirculated pieces.

By the late 1990s it became apparent that there was a growing demand for a dollar coin as vending machine companies, including those run by the US Postal Service, had a real need for a higher domination coin, since the life of paper dollars was relatively short compared to the cost of manufacturing them. Ironically, the US Mint ran out of Susan B. Anthony silver dollars before the new coin was ready and, after a seventeen-year absence, had to reissue the coin in 1999, which is why there are so many in circulation now.[35]

Sacagawea US dollar. 
Courtesy of the US Mint website


But in 2000 the US Mint did not make the same mistakes it had with the original Susan B. Anthony issue. The new dollar coin was golden colored so that it would not be confused with any other US coin. It also had a smooth edge—unlike earlier ridged silver dollars, fifty-cent pieces, or even quarters—so that if you could put your hand in your pocket or purse, you could feel the difference without even seeing it. At the same time political pressures demanded that another woman be honored on the dollar coin.

A committee appointed by the US Mint picked Sacagawea (or Sacajawea), the Shoshone woman who played a critical role in the Lewis and Clark expedition to the Pacific.[36] In the contest to pick the final design, the Mint approved the model in which she carried her infant son. If Sacagawea is relatively unknown, the number of individuals able to identify her son, Jean Baptise, and know that he accompanied her on the entire trip must be minuscule. Another example of a change in the new coin is that a soaring eagle appears on the reverse, surrounded by seventeen, not thirteen stars. It is unlikely that many realize that the seventeen stars on this piece represent the number of states in the Union at the time of the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1804. If we have no idea of the meaning of the coinage issued in 2000 in the United States, we should not be surprised that it is hard to reconstruct the original meaning of significant innovations in earlier coinage, whether it be Islamic or non-Islamic.

Representation was the official theme of the 2000 MESA meeting held in Orlando, Florida on the grounds of Disney World. I initially thought of the negative images in US films and media of the peoples of the Middle East, particularly Arabs. But in preparing my presidential address, I realized that I was sharing a series of representations created by medieval Muslim rulers, as well as modern governments. Authorities in all my examples were using images, design, and even script to transmit messages about themselves even if the meaning behind the message was not always understood. While I focused on those transmitted through coinage, I could have given a parallel talk on state sponsored architecture and used Cairo University’s main administrative building, which was modeled on the Roman Parthenon, or billboards such as one from Egypt in the 1970s in which Anwar Sadat is portrayed as a pious Muslim holding prayer beads in front of a government sponsored mosque. A third type of resource—postage stamps—came to my attention as I flew to the 2000 MESA meeting. I read that in the fall of 2001 the US government will issue a stamp in honor of Eid al-Fitr so that it coincides with the eid at the end of Ramadan for that year.[37] The accepted design, which is in Arabic and reads “‘id mubarak,” was created by the noted calligrapher of Arabic, Muhammad Zakariya, and is the first US stamp to honor a Muslim holiday. Consider what message the US government may be sending with this new stamp.

In conclusion, I would suggest that as each of us travels, we stop for a moment and identify how the host country, including the US, wishes to represent itself through its architecture, sponsored art, postage stamps, or coinage. I then would urge you as scholar/viewer to use your imagination and interpret those visual messages. Join me in play.

*I wish to thank the following individuals for their input, recognizing that errors of fact and interpretation are mine: Irene A. Bierman, Barbara Fudge, Felicia J. Hecker, Bernard O’Kane, and Stuart D. Sears. I also thank the American Research Center in Egypt for their Fellowship that gave me time to work on this paper. A significantly expanded version of this paper with additional examples from Egypt and without the US material will be published in Islamic Art, volume 7.

[1] Barbara Stowasser, “Time to Reap,” MESA Bulletin 34.1 (Summer 2000): 1-13.

[2] A recording by the folksinger Theodore Bikel introduced me to the term USAns although he preferred to refer to them as the ‘We’ans,’ whose capital he translated as Pound Laundry. Theodore Bikel, “Digging the We’ans,” recorded on “BRAVO” in 1960.

[3] A parallel approach to American coinage is “An Anonymous Gentleman of Distinction,” “American Numismatics Archaeology-Wise,” The Numismatic Review 5 (1964): 66-68.

[4] A sestertius of Trajan struck in 105-107 CE showing a figure in the center of a Corinthian temple would be the type of factual evidence footnoted to ‘prove’ the interpretation in this text. Philip V. Hill, The Monuments of Ancient Rome as Coin Types (London: Seaby, 1989), p. 9.

[5] For the Great Seal of the United States, see http://www.greatseal.com.

[6] For an introduction to Islamic numismatics, see Michael Bates, “Methodology in Islamic Numismatics,” a paper presented in Sicily in 1989 and reproduced in the electronic journal on Islamic numismatics, as-Sikka 5 (Winter, 2000). http://islamiccoins-group.50g.com/newsletter methodology.htm (20 December 2000). The website is an excellent site for anyone interested in Islamic numismatics. There are also regular, informative exchanges on islamic_coins@egroups.com.

[7] The problem of periodization is not unique to the study of Islamic numismatics. Virtually every field finds itself locked into dynastic dates, which often are not appropriate for the material studied. An example of a criticism of relying on a periodization determined by dynasties, but not applicable to the material studied, can be found in Michael Rogers’ review of Feza Gehervari’s “Islamic Pottery: A Comprehensive Study Based on the Barlow Collection” in Bibliotheca Orientalis 33 (1976): 90.

[8] A forceful case for this argument is made by Peter Vargyas, “Money in the Ancient Near East Before and After Coinage,” Albright News: The Newsletter of the W. F. W. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research 5 (February 2000): 10-11.

[9] There are a number of good introductions to the history of numismatics. Among the best is Philip Grierson, Numismatics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975). A more popular approach, including excellent color plates of coins, is Jonathan Williams, ed. Money—A History (London: The British Museum Press, 1997), in which Michael Bates contributes a chapter on Islamic coins.

[10] Thomas R. Martin, “Why did the Greek Polis Originally Need Coins?,” Historia: Zeitschrift für alte Geschichte 45.3 (1996): 257-83.

[11] A volume devoted to the art of Central Asia and India, inadvertently, summed up the situation when the author ended with the advent of Islam, implying that the value of coinage as a source for art historical studies had also ended (“Coin Designs as Evidence of Art History,” Crossroads of Asia, eds. Elizabeth Errington and Joe Cribb with Maggie Claringbull [Cambridge: Ancient India and Iran Trust, 1992], p. 48). With few exceptions Islamic coins are not included or illustrated in books on Islamic calligraphy. For example, Richard Ettinghausen’s classic study does not include a single numismatic reference, as if coinage was any freer of error than inscriptions on buildings and pottery (Richard Ettinghausen, “Arabic Epigraphy: Communication or Symbolic Affirmation,” Near Eastern Numismatics, Iconography, Epigraphy and History: Studies in Honor of George C. Miles, ed. Dickran K. Kouymjian [Beirut: AUB Press, 1974], pp. 297-317). Two exceptions are Lisa Volow, “Plaited Kufic on Samanid Epigraphic Pottery,” Ars Orientalis 6 (1966) and Anthony Welch, Calligraphy in the Arts of the Muslim World (Austin: The Asia Society, Inc., 1979).

[12] William F. Spengler and Wayne G. Sayles, Turkoman Figural Bronze Coins and Their Iconography, 2 vols. (Lodi, WI: Clio’s Cabinet, 1993 and 1996). There are sections on Ayyubid coinage with figures and animals in Paul Balog, The Coinage of the Ayyubids (London: Royal Numismatic Society, 1980).

[13] Sears, “Money,” Encyclopedia of the Qur’an (forthcoming).

[14] The best source for late Sasanian and early Muslim coinage from Iran and Iraq (the so-called Arab-Sasanian coinage) is Sears, “A Monetary History of Iraq and Iran, ca. CE 500-750,” (Chicago: University of Chicago, unpublished Ph.D. diss., 1995). A shorter bibliography for Sasanian material can be found in Sears, “Monetary Revision and Monetization in the Late Sasanian Empire,” Studia Iranica 21 (1999): 164-65.

[15] J. A. Walker, A Catalogue of the Arab-Sasanian Coins (London: British Museum, 1941), which will be superseded by Sears’s forthcoming study of this coinage. J. A. Walker, A Catalogue of the Muhammadan Coins in the British Museum, Volume II: A Catalogue of the Arab-Byzantine and Post-Reform Umayyad Coins (London: British Museum, 1956). An excellent introduction is Sears, “An Introduction to the Early Muslim Drahms,” as-Sikka 5 (2000). http://islamiccoingroup.50g.com/newsletter5/drahms.htm (8 January 2001).

[16] The literature on pre-reformed Islamic coinage is extensive. In addition to the basic volumes by Walker cited above, a number of important articles are the following: George C. Miles, “Mihrab and ‘Anazah: A Study in Early Islamic Iconography,” Archaeologia Orientalia in Memoriam Ernst Herzfeld (New York, 1952): 156-71; Miles, “The Earliest Arab Gold Coinage,” American Numismatic Society Museum Notes 13 (1967): 205-39; and Michael L. Bates, “History, Geography and Numismatics in the First Century of Islamic Coinage,” Schweizerische Numismatische Rundschau/Revue Suisse de Numismatique 65 (1986): 231-61. Recent examples of the use of numismatic data for art historical studies include Nadia Jamil, “Caliph and Qutb: Poetry as a Source for Interpreting the Transformation of the Byzantine Cross on Steps on Umayyad Coinage,” Bayt al-Maqdis: Jerusalem and Early Islam, ed. Jeremy Johns (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), pp. 11-58 and W. Luke Treadwell, “The ‘Orans’ Drachms of Bishr ibn Marwan and the Figural Coinage of the Early Marwanids,” ibid. pp. 223-70.

[17] Walker, 1956.

[18] An example of the use of numismatic data for art historical purposes, including references to the Qur’anic inscriptions is Oleg Grabar, The Formation of Islamic Art (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2nd ed., 1987), especially pp. 58-60 and 89-94. Both the gold and silver coinage and the Dome of the Rock include Sura CXII “Say: He is God, the One; God the Eternal; He has not begotten nor was He begotten; and there is none comparable to Him.” One prominent inscription on the north gate of the Dome of the Rock and on the outer margin of the new style coinage is Sura IX: 33 (or LXI: 9), which is known as the Prophetic mission: “He it is who has sent His messenger with the guidance and the religion of truth, so that he may cause it to prevail over all religion, however much the idolaters may hate it.” (Grabar, p. 60).

[19] The most detailed study available is Norman D. Nicol, “Early Abbásid Administration in the Central and Eastern Provinces, 132-218 A.H./750-833 A.D.” (Seattle: University of Washington, unpublished Ph.D. diss., 1979). Elizabeth Savage’s massive study of early Abbasid coin types, based upon the notes of Nicholas Lowick, which is available in manuscript copy at the British Museum and a few other institutions, has much of the raw data needed for such a systematic study of early Abbasid coinage (Savage, ed. Early ‘Abbasid Coinage: A Type Corpus, 132-218 H/AD 750-833: A Posthumous Work by Nicholas Lowick [London: British Museum, Department of Coins and Medals typescript, 1999]).

[20] Savage, ed., Early ‘Abbasid Coinage. Two exceptions in terms of Umayyad annulet patterns are the De Shasho and Bates study of Wasit cited below and Marilyn Highbee Walker, “The Silver Coinage of the Independent Emirate of Muslim Spain: Hanging Annulet and Decoration Patterns” (unpublished presentation at the Middle East Studies Association annual meeting, 1997) in which there are no obvious associations of the annulet patterns with specific rulers or events.

[21] For a fuller account of al-Mansur’s actions, see Bacharach, “Al-Mansur and Umayyad Dirhams,” Yarmouk Journal 4 (1992): 7-17.

[22] Bacharach, Yarmouk Journal, plates III and IV. For details on the method, see Bacharach and Adon A. Gordus, “Studies on the Fineness of Silver Coins,” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 11 (1968): 307-17.

[23] For the annulet pattern at Wasit, see A. S. De Shaso and Michael L. Bates, “The Umayyad Governors of al-‘Iraq and the Changing Annulet Patterns of Their Dirhams,” The Nusmismatic Chronicle Seventh Series 14 (1974): 110-18. Their table is reproduced in Bacharach, Yarmouk Journal, plate IV.

[24] Tayeb El-Hibri, “Coinage Reform under the ‘Abbasid Caliph al-Ma’mun,” JESHO 36 (1993): 59-83. I also drew extensively on the unpublished work of Bates who kindly shared with me his work in progress. He has made available his 1996 MESA paper, “The ‘Abbasid Coinage System, 833-946,” at the American Numismatic Society website http://www.amnumsoc.org/collections/abbasid.html (8 January 2001).

[25] “God’s is the command first and last. On that day the Believers will rejoice in the victory granted by God.” Qur’an 30: 4-5. El-Hibri, “Coinage Reform,” p. 64.

[26] Miles, Fatimid Coins in the Collection of the University Museum, Philadelphia and the American Numismatic Society (New York: American Numismatic Society, 1951). Norman D. Nicol’s forthcoming corpus of Fatimid coins will detail eight different coin types minted in the name of ‘Ubayd Allah al-Mahdi (297-322/920-934), the first Fatimid Imam-Caliph. I wish to express my deep appreciation to Dr. Nicol for sharing data with me.

[27] Bierman, Writing Signs: The Fatimid Public Text (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998), especially “The Sign of Isma’ilism: Concentric Circles and Coins,” pp. 62-70. Bierman, “Inscribing the City: Fatimid Cairo,” Islamische Textilkunst des Mittelalters: Aktuelle Probleme (Riggisberg: Abegg-Stiftung Riggisberger Berichte 5, 1997): 107.

[28] Ron Messier, “The Almoravids: West African Gold and the Gold Currency of the Mediterranean Basin,” JESHO 17 (1974): 31-47.

[29] Balog, The Coinage of the Ayyubids is the basic reference for Ayyubid coinage.

[30] The issue of the purity of Saladin’s coinage and that of his immediate successors is discussed in Andrew S. Ehrenkreutz, “The Crisis of the Dinar in the Egypt of Saladin,” JAOS 76 (1956): 178-84, although it is now believed that those dinars with a lower gold content were Crusader imitations.

[31] I place myself among those scholars who believe that the script used carries messages. Yasser Tabbaa, “The Transformation of Arabic Writing: The Public Text,” Ars Orientalis 24 (1994): 119-47.

[32] For the numismatic evidence from the reign of al-Malik al-Kamil, see Balog, The Coinage of the Ayyubids, pp. 146-78, especially pp. 156-58 on the silver. A study drawing primarily on medieval texts is Hassanein Rabie, The Financial System of Egypt, AH 564-741/AD 1169-1341 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1972): 177-84.

[33] Ehrenkreutz, “The Fineness of Gold Coins in Egypt at the Time of the Crusades,” JAOS 74 (1964), pp. 162-66.

[34] al-Maqrizi, “Shudhur al-‘uqud fi dhikr al-nuqud” in al-Nuqud al-‘arabiyya wa ‘ilm al-nummiyya, ed. Anastas Mari al-Kirmilli (Cairo: 1939), p. 60.

[35] Editorial, “Anthony $1 Issue Pattern Fits Historically,” Numismatic News (26 October 1999): 29.

[36] The official statement on the new issue can be found at the US Mint website at http://www.uwmint.gov/dollarcoin/winner.cfm (20 December 2000). Additional discussions can be found at the following: “Mint Offers Opportunity for Comment on Dollar,” Numismatic News (22 December 1998): 39; James C. Benfield, “Arts Panel Picks Two,” Numismatic News (5 January 2000); and David L. Ganz, “Get Rid of the Baby?,” Numismatic News (12 January 2000).

[37] “Eid: This stamp in the Holiday Celebrations series commemorates the two most important festivals—or eids—in the Islamic calendar. Eid al-Adha (celebrated on 6 March in 2001) marks the end of the hajj, the annual period designated for Muslims to make their pilgrimage to Mecca. Eid al-Fitr (celebrated on 16 December in 2001) celebrates the end of the Ramadan fast. Designed by calligrapher Mohamed Zakariya, the Eid stamp features the Arabic phrase ‘Eid mubarak’ in gold against a blue background, which is reminiscent of many great works of Islamic calligraphy. Eid mubarak translates as ‘blessed festival,’ and can be paraphrased, ‘May your religious holiday be blessed’” (http:// www.usps.gov/images/stamps/2001/ [20 December 2000]).