Mitchiner: Oriental Coins and Their Values. V 1. The World of Islam. First Edition. Better plates.

Ex Tom Passon Library, with his Firm stamp (Omni Trading) on the cover and at the underside of the books. Binding is a little weakened but intact. (See photos).

Numismatic Chronicle: this is the first great general work on Islamic coinages. It lists 4,000 coins, all illustrated and at least partially described, representing the Muslim coinages of the Near East (the Caliphates and Successive states), of India (from the Amirs of Sind) and much on the Crusaders and related field.

The present book is but a survey when compared with the many volumes that would be required to compile a detailed catalogue. Attention has been given to selecting material that provides a representative cross-section of Islamic coinage, including both commonly encountered issues and the emissions of minor dynasties whose Emirs only struck a scanty coinage. The coins catalogued here are nearly all published for the first time and although many of the issues are well known there are also a substantial number of new issues as well as some rulers and even dynasties not previously known to have struck coins. Some of the mints represented here are also of interest and a few dates call for minor revisions of existing chronologies. The coins themselves are all in private hands and to this extent the selection of material reflects both the availability of coins and also collectors? preferences. The element of availability is important in so far as it is influenced by the composition of various coin hoards that have come onto the market during recent years. Several such recent hoards have produced a) the Samanid-Ghaznavid multiple dirhems of Northern Afghanistan, b) a series of Timurid - Ak Koyunlu tankahs that includes many countermarked specimens, c) a series of late Urtukid silver dirhems, d) a series of silver tankahs of the earlier Bengal Sultans. A number of these classes of coin, particularly those in the first three groups, were poorly represented in most of the major Catalogues of Islamic coinage. On the other hand inspection of Museum Catalogues most of which were compiled several decades ago, provides a somewhat different spectrum of coinage reflecting the coin hoards and collecting preferences of earlier years.

Weight: 2.800 kg. (packaging included)