Islamic Coins, Arab Sasanian, Bishr bin Marwan, Governor of Kufa (c. 73-75h), drachm, AKWLA 73h, obv. bust of Sasanian ruler to right (Khusraw II), date, in front of face) thalath/wa saba'in, margin, starting at 1:00: bism Allah, at 3:00 la ilah illa Allah, at 6:00 wahda Muhammad, at 9:00: rasul Allah; rev: fire altar flanked by two attendants, mint name AKWLA downwards on right, a monogram which could be read as BBM ( = Bishr bin Marwan) downwards on left, wt. 3.34gms (unpublished), pierced, good fine, of the highest rarity
In the year 73 h, while the Caliph 'Abd al-Malik bin Marwan was introducing his early Islamic dirham coinage in Damascus, he sent his brother Bishr off to Iraq, initially to govern the centre of Umayyad administration in Kufa and then in Basra. It is clear that he was given exceptional powers to introduce the new Islamic coinage where he had direct authority. This coin adds another piece to the very small corpus of coinage which can be attributed with certainty to this innovative governor. The place AKWLA was recorded by the Encyclopædia of Islam as being a gravelly wasteland where the governor established his headquarters somewhat to the north of the new town of a-Kufa where the bulk of the population lived. The use of what appears to be a monogram in the reverse field is an exceptional feature of this coin. Perhaps Bishr was showing suitable modesty on his first coinage. On his later issues he inscribed his full name in Pahlawi. (8000 - 10000 GBP)
