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Weight

Weight

  • Place of origin:

    Egypt (made)

  • Date:

    1160-1171 (made)

  • Artist/Maker:

    Unknown

  • Materials and Techniques:

    Stamped opaque turquoise glass

  • Museum number:

    5629K-1901

  • Gallery location:

    Glass, Room 131, case 85, shelf 4

People used coin weights such as this in Egypt under the Fatimid dynasty (969-1171). This example weighs 1.00 grammes and we think it was used to balance gold coinage weighing one quarter of a dinar. It was produced in the reign of the last Fatimid caliph, al-'Adid (ruled 1160-1171). His full regnal name, al-'Adid li-Din Allah, appears between the titles Imam and Commander of the Faithful on the obverse. (This is the side of the coin that carries the main design.) The reverse is blank.

Physical description

Opaque turquoise coin weight stamped with four-line inscription. Equates to the weight of a quarter-dinar.

Place of Origin

Egypt (made)

Date

1160-1171 (made)

Artist/maker

Unknown

Materials and Techniques

Stamped opaque turquoise glass

Marks and inscriptions

'al-!imaam / al-?aaDid li-diin / allah !amiir / al-mu!miniin'
'The Imam al-'Adid li-Din Allah, Commander of the Faithful'
Arabic; Arabic; obverse; stamped

Dimensions

Diameter: 1.4 cm, Weight: 1.00 g

Descriptive line

Weight, glass, Egypt, 10th-11th century

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

Balog, Paul, "Fatimid glass jetons: token currency or coin weights?", Annali, Istituto Italiano di Numismatica, 17-19 (1971-2): 175-264
Balog, Paul, "Fatimid glass jetons: token currency or coin weights?", Annali, Istituto Italiano di Numismatica, 20 (1973): 121-212
Contadini, Anna, Fatimid Art at the Victoria & Albert Museum. London: V&A Publications, 1998. p.108, plate 49

Labels and date

Formerly in the Salt Collection []

Production Note

The Fatimid caliph al-'Adid (ruled 1160-1171) is named in the inscription.

Materials

Glass

Techniques

Stamped

Categories

Islam; Africa

Collection

Ceramics Collection

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