Artuqids of Mardin. Najm al-Din Ghazi I. AH 637-658 / AD 1239-1260.  Dated AH 65[4 or 5] (AD 1256-8). Draped facing bust / Name and titles of Najm al-Din Ghazi I in four lines within pelleted square; mint formula and AH date in outer margins; ones digit of date off flan. 21mm, 3.47 grams. Mardin mint. Whelan Type B; S&S Type 49; Album A1833; CNG 94, lot 1617. 

The medieval figural copper coins of the Artuqids, Zangids, and other contemporary Islamic dynasties are among the most remarkable and unusual issues in Islamic numismatics. Their designs frequently borrowed from ancient Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Persian coinage, reproducing classical busts, imperial portraits, mythological figures, astrological symbols and even the bust of Christ alongside Arabic inscriptions naming Muslim rulers and their titles. This extraordinary fusion of classical imagery and Islamic epigraphy produced a distinctive and often strikingly beautiful coinage, virtually unparalleled in the medieval Islamic world.