I
had wanted to dabble in
Islamic numismatics for the longest time, but was daunted by the learning curve. A quantity of inexpensive Mamluk copper coins recently entered the market, and I jumped at the opportunity. Apart from the prices: (a) the leading reference book on the series,
Balog's Coins of the Mamluk Sultans of
Egypt and
Syria, is available free on-line, and
zeno.ru is also available as a great on-line resource; (b) the designs predominate over the iconography on the coins, so that the ability to read Arabic is less crucial than it would be with other
Islamic series; and (c) I love the look of the coins and their sand patinas. Immediately after getting the first few coins in hand, I bought a copy of Sylloge Numorum Arabicorum Tübingen (SNAT), Hamah. When I need
attribution assistance, the dedicated collectors at
zeno.ru have been very helpful. I have
had hours of fun attributing the coins. After just two months of collecting, my Mamluk
album within my personal
gallery contains 19 coins, with more to come. Please take a look:
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=6903. Any comments or corrections would be appreciated.
A few coins that I purchased turned out not to be Mamluk but coins from other dynasties. Despite being outside my new
area of interest, I have enjoyed them, too, and post them elsewhere within my
gallery.
I should add that my involvement with Elymaean coinage that began around two years ago was similarly jump-started by a sudden glut of inexpensive coins on the market and the availability of a reasonably-priced reference book. That
album within my personal
gallery now has 55 coins:
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=6557. I have
had a wonderful time learning about that series, also, and am very proud of the
collection that I have developed.
I heartily recommend remaining open to new series that are well outside one's comfort zones, although I recognize that many collectors prefer to remain focused on their core areas of expertise.
Stkp
