ISLAMIC, Anatolia & al-Jazira (Post-Seljuk). Artuqids (Mardin). Najm al-Din Alpi. AH 547-572 / AD 1152-1176. Citing ‘Abbasid caliph al-Mustanjid billah. Undated, but struck AH 560-566 (AD 1164-1170). Two diademed and draped male heads facing slightly away from one another; in margins, Kalima above and below, name and title of Abbasid caliph to right and left / Facing female head, wearing necklace; name, title, and genealogy of Najm al-Din Alpi in outer margin. 33mm, 11.80 grams. NM (Mardin[?]). Whelan Type IV, 44-5; S&S Type 30.1; Album 1827.5; ICV 1203.

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.