al-Mustansir · silver kharruba group

Reign 1035–1094; individual coins undated · Fatimid Caliphate — al-Mustansir, partly tentative

Small inscribed silver coins with dotted borders. Brown identifies group A(ii) with al-Mustansir and assigns A(iii–iv) to him tentatively. These related silver groups share one catalogue entry here; their differing published sample means do not create separate dated issues.

Technical specifications

Composition
Silver
Weight
Unknown / not verified
Diameter
Unknown / not verified
Thickness
Unknown / not verified
Fineness
Unknown / not verified
Total mintage
Unknown / not verified
Edge
Unknown / not verified
Mint
Unknown / not verified
Obverse
Unknown / not verified
Reverse
Unknown / not verified
Inscriptions
Unknown / not verified
Colour
Unknown / not verified
Serial format
Unknown / not verified

Brown reports mean weights of 0.27 g (2 weighed, A(ii)), 0.25 g (10, A(iii)) and 0.20 g (17, A(iv)), with diameters 9–10 mm for the A groups. These are published sample observations, not nominal mint standards or measurements of one reference coin. Fineness was not established. The illustrated inscriptions are not independently transcribed here.

Brown examined the National Museum group donated by Alfredo Caruana Gatt in 1908 and a related private group. Their original findspots are unrecorded. The author regarded them as probable Maltese hoards, not securely documented excavations. Their contents extend from the 1030s to around the second quarter of the twelfth century. This does not date every individual design to that whole interval.

Dating and classification

The hoard association and broad historical attribution do not provide an exact issue year. No annual minting sequence or local Maltese mint is inferred.

Sources

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Related issues