IKHSHIDID, MUHAMMAD B. TUGHJ (323-334h) Donative half-dirham, Misr, undated Obverse: Tamga with name Muhammad below; bismillah duriba hadha al-dirham bi-Misr around Reverse: name of caliph in three lines; kalima around Weight: 2.23g References: Album A676 RRR; cf Bacharach 215 [a full dirham of this type]; cf ICA 12, 25 April 2007, lot 2111 [catalogued as Abbasid]. Dark surfaces, fair to fine and excessively rare. Remarkably, the tamga on the obverse of the present coin is similar to those used on pre-Islamic copper coins of Samarqand, whose rulers then bore the title Ikhshid. As Bacharach observes, ‘Muhammad ibn Tughj’s use of this device on a presentation piece signals the strength of his memory of his Central Asian origins and the steps he would take to legitimize those associations.’ (Bacharach p.30).

Estimate: GBP 700 - 1000