Al-Mustansir Billah around a triangle, dot in the middle //  Lillah Muhammad Rasul Allah al-Amir (a)bd al-Mansu(r) al-Mustansir (“In God, Muhammad is the messenger of God, Amir Abd-al-Mansur al-Mustansir). 9mm, 0.27 grams. G/G #AS-; Fishman/Todd (2018) #LH6.

Struck with an oversized die on a small flan, as always. Very rare Fatimid coin.

 

Coins of this type are not listed in Goron/Goenka and were first identified in Fishman/Todd's "The Silver Damma". The meaning of the legend is not completely clear. “(A)bd al-Mansu(r)” might be the name of the Amir. Alternatively, it might mean “servant of the victorious (Caliph) al-Mustansir”, in which case the coin would be anonymous, simply giving the title “Amir” without the temporal ruler’s name. Somewhat less likely, the name can also be interpreted as “(A)bd al-Malik wa” – Abd al-Malik might be the name of the Amir, so the translation of the last two lines would be “Abd al-Malik and al-Mustansir”. The reign of the Fatimid Caliph al-Mustansir post-dated the fall of the Habbarids so these coins were minted either by a rump Habbarid state or by rulers of the early Soomra dynasty or by some other ephemeral Fatimid state.