This is an
attribution that I received some time ago for my own example.
"These coins are tentatively attributed to the reign of Bela III. There are similar coins struck in silver (Huszar 111 or Rethy 109). Nobody knows why and where in
Hungary these coins were struck. They are the imitations of Almoravidian dinar; maybe it was an attempt to use them for the
Crusaders in
Palestine. Their companions are copper coins struck in
Byzantine style (Huszar 72). Both
types are quite numerous and
Islamic types were much counterfeited and it probably led to the dropping of an attempt to introduce bimetalism in
Hungary.
Islamic types were struck in Europe from the time to time - like the AV dinar of Offa (Mercia) or AR
dirham of Heinrich II. (
Germany), but the striking of copper coins by a non-Muslim government seems to be a unique one. By the way, there lived in
Hungary large groups of Muslims - merchants or displaced Nomads from East Europe in the 12-13th Cent., but the legends on those particular coins are unreadable. M.
Mitchiner in
his World of Islam (#510-511) attempted to read the date on them - 1181 - which is not impossible, but he misattributed them to Castille's
king Alfonso.
Vladimir Suchy"
