Ancient Coins

Arab-Byzantine, Abd al-Malik Ibn Marwan, fifth Caliph of the Umayyad Dynasty (685-705), Solidus, Damascus, yr. 11 [AH 75/6; AD 696/7], figures of Heraclius, Heraclius Constantine and Heraclonas standing facing, wearing crowns without crosses and holding globes without crosses, rev. VICTORIA AVGYB, transformed cross potent on steps without transverse arm of cross, i a in field, CONOB in exergue, 4.24g/5h (cf. Goodwin, Arab-Byzantine Coinage [2005], p.23, fig.4 [Kahalili collection], for year; cf. Miles, The Earliest Arab Gold Coinage, ANSMN 13 [1967], Gp A4, pl.45, 8 [= Walker, BMC II, p.18, 54 [year 12], for type). Very fine and of the highest rarity; previously unpublished and of the greatest significance for Arabic numismatic research (£20,000-25,000)

Illustrated on the back cover. Abd al-Malik Ibn Marwan succeeded to the caliphate as the fifth caliph of the Umayyad dynasty. In the face of widespread opposition, he spent the early years of his reign restoring order to his realm. To this end he established peace with the Muslim state's traditional enemy on its northern frontier, Byzantium. He implemented a policy of ‘Arabization’ of the expanding Islamic empire. Previously the Muslims had retained the old Byzantine and Sassanian administrations in the conquered provinces for convenience, but now they were rationalized into a centralized system with Arabic as the official language. His introduction in 696 of a native Arab coinage, to replace the imitative Persian and Byzantine coinage which had previously been in circulation, gave a strong boost to the Muslim economy. Abd al-Malik's work of pacification and consolidation helped to make his son Suleiman (reigned 715-17) powerful enough to lay siege to Byzantium itself in 717, and to carry Muslim arms into India and North Africa