Similar dinars sell for a few hundred pounds. However, this particular coin is one of only about a dozen known to exist which bears a short line of text Ma‘din Amir al-Mu‘minin bi’l-Hijaz, which translates as ‘Mine of the Commander of the Faithful in the Hijaz’.
It was the first Islamic gold coin to name a location in present-day Saudi Arabia and spotlights a mine that was owned by the Caliph himself and dug on land acquired by direct descent from the Prophet Muhammad.
The coin, estimated at £1.4m-1.6m, matched the price of another dinar of this type sold by the auction house in 2011.
The sale took place on October 24.
