Bilingual drams of king Hetoum I citing Seljuq of Rum sultans Kayqubad I & Kaykhusraw II have been a favorite with me ever since I began collecting Cilician Armenian coins. The bilingual drams especially stand out because of three factors: 1. They bear Arabic inscriptions. 2. They are the only coins of Cilician Armenia that are dated. 3. They are the only examples of Cilician Armenian coins citing a foreign ruler.
This guide will attempt show the collector known variants of this type, combining information from numerous sources and also to give one a better idea on these issues. It is hoped that these pages will be useful to all who see it - whether expert or student. I would especially like to thank all who have send me literature on the topic and who have allowed images from their collections to be used on these pages.
In additon, I would like to make the collectors aware of a unique bilingual dram dated 640 bearing a countermark. This was orignally published by Victor Langlois in his classical treatise Numismatique de l’Arménie au Moyen Age (Paris, 1855, p. 84, Pl. VI, 5.) Note the countermark is the Arabic word "Allah," meaning "God." Believed to be Eretnid. I was too lazy to make a seperate page on this, so here is the coin!
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND SUGGESTED READING:
To see numerous examples of bilingual coinage see: bilingual coins on Zeno.If there are any errors here, or you have questions, comments, or suggestions feel free to contact me at levon_vrt@yahoo.com