Coin
Unknown Artist
786–808
Medium
Copper
Classification
Coins
Department
Islamic Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1939
Accession Number
39.40.127.413
Art Historical Context
This copper coin, minted between 786 and 808 CE, hails from the height of the Abbasid Calate—a golden era of Islamic civilization marked by intellectual flourishing, vast trade networks, and cultural exchange across the Middle East, North Africa, and beyond. produced during the reign of the famed Caliph Harun al-Rid, whose court inspired tales in *One Thousand and One Nights*, it served as everyday currency known as a *fals*, facilitating commerce bustling markets from Baghdad to Spain. Crafted through the ancient technique of striking metal between engraved dies, the coin bears Arabic inscri...