Islamic Gold Dinar (LACMA M.2006.143.8)

This is a medieval Islamic gold dinar catalogued in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) under accession number M.2006.143.8. Like the standard gold coinage of the Islamic world, it carries no portrait or figure: both faces are given over entirely to Arabic calligraphy, the aniconic tradition that has defined Islamic money since the late seventh century.

On the piece photographed, the obverse presents Arabic calligraphic inscriptions, and the reverse continues the text-based design within a decorative border. The legends would ordinarily combine religious formulae — the profession of faith and Qur'anic phrases — with the name of the ruling authority and, in the margins, the mint and year of striking. Reading those lines is what turns a generic dinar into a specific dated, attributed issue.

Because dinars of this general form were produced by many dynasties across a wide territory over several centuries, this entry describes the coin as it appears — a calligraphic, decoratively bordered medieval gold dinar held by LACMA — rather than assigning it firmly to one ruler or mint. Precise attribution rests on transcribing the inscriptions and consulting specialist references and the museum's own catalogue record.

The dinar takes its name from the late Roman denarius aureus and became a distinctly Islamic coin under the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik, whose reform around 77 AH (696–697 CE) replaced image-bearing gold with a purely inscriptional design of a standard weight near 4.25 grams. That aniconic, calligraphic formula set the template for Islamic gold for centuries.

Across the medieval period, gold dinars were struck by successive and rival powers — Umayyads, Abbasids, the Fatimids of Egypt and North Africa, the Buyids, and numerous regional dynasties — each naming its own caliph, sovereign or overlord in the legends and often enclosing them in ornamental borders like the one seen on this reverse. The dinar served as high-value money for trade, taxation and treasure across the Mediterranean and Near East, and its reliable gold content made it a widely trusted international currency.

This particular specimen entered the LACMA collection in 2006, as its accession number indicates, joining the museum's holdings of Islamic art. Its exact dynasty, mint and year can only be settled by reading its inscriptions and consulting the museum record, since the broad calligraphic style was shared so widely that visual form alone does not fix the issuer.

Confirm first that the coin is entirely calligraphic. This dinar carries Arabic legends with no portrait or figural image; the obverse shows inscriptions and the reverse continues the text with a decorative border framing it. That imageless, text-only layout is the defining feature of an Islamic dinar and separates it at a glance from Roman, Byzantine or later European gold.

Work through the legends systematically. The central fields typically carry the Islamic profession of faith and religious phrases, while a marginal band often records the mint city and the year of striking in Arabic words, together with the ruling caliph or dynast. Transcribe or photograph every line — inner field and outer margin, on both faces — because the wording is what identifies the issuer, mint and date. For a museum piece, the LACMA catalogue entry for M.2006.143.8 is the primary reference for any attribution it carries.

Record the physical coin as well: diameter, thickness and especially weight, since classical dinars cluster near a standard of roughly 4.2–4.3 grams, though many issues vary. Gold color alone does not prove gold content, and flan shape and strike are often irregular on hand-struck medieval coins. This description reflects the piece as photographed; confirm the specific attribution and metal through the museum record or a specialist before relying on any single identification.

This specimen is a museum object in the LACMA collection and is not itself a market item, so no price attaches to it directly. For comparable medieval Islamic dinars, value depends heavily on exactly which issue a coin is — the dynasty, ruler, mint and year read from the legends — as well as on gold weight, condition and provenance. Attribution matters far more here than for a generic gold coin: a common dinar of a widely struck ruler is valued very differently from a rare mint, a scarce date or a historically significant issuer.

Any genuine gold dinar carries at least a bullion value set by its weight and fineness, with numismatic premium resting on rarity, legibility of the legends, strike quality, preservation and documented history. Well-struck, clearly attributable dinars of desirable dynasties can command significant premiums over their metal content.

Because Islamic gold is an area where modern forgeries, cast copies and misattributions occur, treat any figure as general context only. For a coin in hand, have it weighed and measured, its metal independently tested, and its legends read by a specialist in Islamic numismatics before assigning a value or paying a premium.