Artheon MuseumArtheonMuseum

Coin

Unknown Artist

786–808

Coin by Unknown Artist

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...

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