Ancient, Celtic, British, Irish and World Coins, Tokens, and Historical Medals

Arab-Byzantine, Arab-Byzantine coinage, AH 85-95 [704-15 AD], Half Dinar or Semissis, North African mint, icretr across field, marginal legend outside the flan, rev. [NI]miserircs around globe on shaft above three steps (Walker 171). Very rare, usual small flan, good very fine (£900-1200)

These earliest coins of the recently captured territories in North Africa are similar in size and weight to the last Byzantine coinage of Carthage. The cross has been removed from the reverse and changed to a globe. The legends are a shortened version in Latin of the Creed of the conqueror’s religion in that there is only one God. It is interesting to surmise whether this jumble of letters taken at random from a Latin version of an Arabic prayer was understood by either of the Muslim or Christian recipients of these coins