Yah, I couldn't decide between the left-facing dragon, or the right-facing dragon
=> so there seemed to be only one logical solution => cha-ching, buy 'em both!! (they're so cool, I couldn't resist)
I hadn't seen too many of these examples, so again, I decided that I'd better snag 'em both!
ISLAMIC, Anatolia & al-Jazira (Post-Seljuk). Artuqids (Mardin) Nasir al-Din Artuq
Arslan. Æ
DirhamMardin
mintAH 597-637 / AD 1200-1239
Dated AH 599 (AD 1202/3)
Diameter: 29mm
Weight: 9.09 grams
Obverse:
Centaur advancing right (oh, and left depending upon which one of my sweet coins you are gazing at ... both are awesome),
head facing, drawing bow at
head of dragon emerging from
his tail;
mint name and AH date around
Reverse: Names and titles of Abbasid caliph al-Nasir and
Ayyubid overlord in four lines; name of Nasir al-Din Artuq
Arslan in margins
Reference:
Whelan Type II, pp. 111-2; S&S
Type 38.2;
Album 1830.2; ICV 1212
Other: 3h … VF, earthen dark brown-black
patina, areas of
weak strikeEx Künker 204 (12 March 2012), lot 1098 (
part of)