Follaro of William II, Sicily

[ROMA]

I recently picked up this coin and found an example that looked to be the same at the Maskukat collection website. This is how i've attributed it but im uncertain about the referance. Does anyone have any idea what the arabic inscription consists of? For all i know i have it upside down in the picture!

William II “the good” King of Sicily and Naples (1166-1189) 17mm
Sicily, Mesina Mint. Follaro
Obverse field: REX W SC&S Obverse Margin: OPERATA IN VRBE MESSANE
Reverse: Arabic Inscription
Reference: MEC14: 401-409?

[PeterD]

I have one of these although in worse condition. I believe the arabic inscription reads:

"AL-MALIK / GHULYALIM / AL-THANI" (King William II)

I'm not sure where I got that from - I certainly didn't read it myself!

[ROMA]

Thanx for the info. Do you by any chance know what it translates to?

[Maffeo]

For these coins I use as a reference L. Travaini, La Monetazione nell'Italia Normanna, (Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo - Nuovi Studi Storici - 28), Rome 1995.
Your coin is n. 368 on p. 317.
The obverse is the face with the arabic/cufic inscription (your photo has it upside down...)
The reverse is the face with the latin inscription.

The inner circle of the obverse: al-malik Ghulyalim (al-thani) al-musta'izz bi-illah = the king William (the second) powerful by the grace of God.
The outer legend of the obverse (cufic characters): duriba bi-amr al-malik al-mu'azzam al-musta'izz bi-llah = struck by the order of the king the great strong by the grace of God

The inner circle of the reverse: °REX W SCDS
The outer legend of the reverse: + OPERATA IN URBE MESSANE

[ROMA]

Thanks for the info and the info on the reference you use for these. I wanted to be sure of something before I changed it. On the Maskukat Collection page, he has an example that looks about identical to mine.  His reference was MEC14: 401-409, I dont know what this references to though. Anyways, his page lists the Obverse field: °REX W SCDS Obverse Margin: + OPERATA IN URBE MESSANE, where you list that as the reverse legends of the coin. I just wanted to check on which was right. Here's a link to his information on the coin...

http://medievalcoins.ancients.info/cgi-bin/webdata_coinbase.pl?fid=1127148641&query=Dynasty%3Dsicily%26Ruler%3DWilliam%2BII%26Reign%2BDate%3D1166%26pagenum%3D1%26cgifunction%3DSearch&cgifunction=form