Cordoba AH 190 dirham
This specimen was lot 1307 in Sedwick Treasure Auction 39 (Winter Park, FL, May 2026), where it sold for $780. The catalog description[1] noted,
"SPAIN (Al-Andalus), Umayyads, Emirate of Córdoba, AR dirham, Al Hakam I, 190 AH (806 AD), mint of al Andalus الأندلس, NGC MS 62. Bright with brilliant luster, very bold strike with nearly all inscriptions clear.
With the arrival of the Umayyad prince Abd al Rahman I in al Andalus, Islamic authority was consolidated and the independent Emirate of Córdoba was proclaimed in 756 AD. After a brief period without coin production and a slow initial phase, minting resumed in 150 AH / 767 AD and continued thereafter on a regular basis, focused almost exclusively on silver dirhams. During these years gold dinars were not struck and copper fulus were produced only in very limited quantities.
In terms of design, the inscriptions follow the typological tradition established in the earlier period, maintaining the Umayyad use of Qur’anic sura 112, a formula already abandoned by the Abbasids. This conservative adherence to the Umayyad monetary model would remain characteristic throughout the history of the Emirate and later the Caliphate of Córdoba. Only minor variations appear in the form of small geometric or vegetal ornaments, or as in the present specimen, discreet triangular arrangements of dots incorporated into the field."
An Arab army invaded Visigothic Spain in 711 AD and, finding little resistance, quickly conquered the whole peninsula except the northernmost mountains. Their attempts to also take France were defeated at the battle of Toulouse in 721 AD and again at the battle of Poitiers in 732. The Umayyad caliphate in Syria collapsed in 750 AD and a refugee prince, Abd al-Rahman, arrived in Spain in 755 AD and soon established himself as overlord of Spain. This dirham was struck for Al Hakam I (796-822), third emir of Cordoba.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: silver.
Catalog reference: Cayón-473, Vives-88; Miles-81.
- Cayón, Adolfo, Clemente Cayón and Juan Cayón, Las Monedas Españolas, del Tremis al Euro: del 411 a Nuestros Dias, 2 volumes, Madrid: Cayón-Jano S.L., 2005.
- [1]Sedwick, Daniel Frank, Augi Garcia, Cori Sedwick Downing, Connor Falk and Sarah Sproles, Auction 39, World, U.S Coins and Paper Money, featuring the Jorge Ugaz Collection of Lima Silver Cob 2 Reales and the Darby Collection of Guatemala Silver Cobs, Winter Park, FL: Daniel Frank Sedwick LLC, 2026.
Links to:
- al-Andalus AH 117 dirham, Umayyad governors
- Cordoba AH 321 dinar, Abd al-Rahman III al-Nasir
- Coins and currency dated 806