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SPAIN Castile Leon Toledo AV morabetino Alfonso VIII Era 1245 Safar NGC MS61 finest only rare

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SPAIN Castile Leon Toledo AV morabetino Alfonso VIII Era 1245 Safar NGC MS61 finest only rare
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SPAIN (Castile and León), Toledo, AV morabetino, Alfonso VIII, Era 1245 of Safar (1207 AD), very rare, NGC MS 61, finest and only example in NGC census. Cay-1036; Fr-101. 3.87 grams. Nice luster for assigned grade, with sharp full inscriptions, slightly grainy surfaces with traces of encrustation in crevices.

Obverse:
Cross pattée flanked by pellets above inscription
امام البيعة
المسيحية نانة
ALF
imām al-bayʿa / al-masīḥiyya nāna / ALF
Imam of the Church / of the Messiah, Pope / ALF
Circular legend:
بسم الأب والابن والروح القدس الإله الواحد آمين واعتمد يكن سالما
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, God is One. Whoever believes and is baptized shall be saved. (Gospel of Mark, chapter XVI, verse 16.)

Reverse:
أمير القتولقيين ألفونش بن شنجة أيده الله ونصره
amīr al-qatūliqiyyīn, Alfūnsh ibn Shanja, ayyadahu Allāh wa-naṣarahu
Commander of the Catholics, Alfonso son of Sancho, may God assist him and grant him victory.
Circular legend:
ضرب هذا الدينار مدينة طليطلة سنة خمس وأربعون ومئتان وألف عصر الصفر
ḍuriba hāḏā al-dīnār madīnat Ṭulayṭila sanat khams wa-arbaʿūn wa-miʾatān wa-alf ʿaṣr al-ṣafar
This dinar was struck in the city of Toledo, year five and forty and two hundred and one thousand, Era of Safar.

The morabetinos of Alfonso VIII, struck at Toledo beginning in 1173 AD, represent one of the most distinctive issues of medieval Iberian numismatics. Directly inspired by the Almoravid dinar, they maintained a weight standard close to 3.8 grams and closely reproduced its formal and epigraphic structure in a deliberate attempt to emulate the prestige and commercial acceptance of Islamic gold coinage. The design incorporates a cross pattée, serving as the Christian symbolic counterpart to the Islamic profession of faith present on the original dinars, accompanied by Arabic inscriptions and later by abbreviated Latin forms of the king’s name. This combination of languages and religious symbolism produced the well known “bilingual” issues, struck exclusively at the mint of Toledo.

Beyond their economic function, these coins reflect a remarkable degree of cultural syncretism. They combine artistic traditions associated with both the Islamic and Christian worlds, creating a synthesis reminiscent of the visual language of Mudéjar and Mozarabic art. The epigraphic aesthetic inherited from Andalusí models coexists with the Christian iconography of the cross, suggesting that Mozarabic craftsmen familiar with Arabic script likely participated in their production. In this way the morabetinos not only reproduce a prestigious monetary model but also stand as material testimony to the intense cultural and artistic exchanges between al Andalus and the Christian kingdoms of medieval Iberia. NGC #8437663-012.
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