Previously, copies of Byzantine coins but without crosses were used. The first silver coins were to follow in about AH80 (699AD) or so we thought until very recently.
The Peus (15% buyer’s premium) sale at Frankfurt on October 31 contained an epigraphic silver dirham and dated AH78. Something not seen before. This is an important coin because it demonstrates that a bi-metallic coinage was envisioned from the beginning. Who knows how to estimate such a coin? Well, Peus opined DM100,000; as good a guess as any. It actually realised DM85,000 (£26,500).
Early dirham catches the word
It is not usually understood that the prophet Mohammed did not actually ban images. This came about some 60 years after his death. In very late AH77 (696AD) the then caliph instituted an epigraphic gold coinage: the dinar (cf. Latin: denarius).
