Early Abbasid and Contemporaneous Gold Coinage

A Companion Guide to the Die Corpus, AH 132–169

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Extent: 29 pages

Publisher: Wiley-VCH

Subjects: Numismatics

Series: NDS Companion Guides

Language: English

Paperback (Published)

(September 2026)

ISBN: 9789908988313

8.66 x 11.46 inches

Price: $25.00

A practical guide to reading Early Abbasid gold dinars — inscriptions, dates, and history — designed to make NDS Vol. 2 accessible to students, collectors, and newcomers alike.


A practical companion to NDS Volume 2, designed to make Early Abbasid gold coinage accessible to readers at every level — from newcomers to experienced collectors and researchers.

This guide covers the historical background of the Abbasid Revolution and the fall of the Umayyad Caliphate, a map and overview of the mints active during AH 132–169, coin metrology, and a chronology of the early Abbasid caliphs — al-Saffah, al-Mansur, and al-Mahdi. It also introduces the seven stylistic and chronological phases identified in the die corpus, alongside a step-by-step method for reading the Arabic inscriptions, dates, and religious formulas found on obverse and reverse. A year-by-year catalogue table and bibliography complete the volume, together with guidance on using the NDS Vol. 2 die corpus itself.

Designed for students, collectors, and anyone curious about early Islamic coinage, this guide bridges the gap between the specialist die corpus and a wider readership eager to understand these historical monuments firsthand.