Islamic - Early Pre-Reform ARAB-ARMENIAN: Muhammad, ca. 690-700+, AR zuzun (3.06g), "ShY", year "37", A-H97, with Muhammad in Arabic in ObQ2 & awsrwy (Khusro) in Pahlavi before the obverse bust, pleasing F-VF, RRR. This type is believed to have been issued within the regions of Armenia or Azerbaijan. The mint name is derived from a prototype from the Shiraz mint, and the date, while convincingly 37, is probably just a copy from the prototype. Also of considerable interest is the Greek letter Ph instead of a star within the right crescent in the obverse margin. Other types have a different Greek letter in one of the crescents in either the obverse or reverse margin. These Greek characters are of undetermined meaning, but the use of Greek does support the assignment to the Caucasian lands, where Byzantine silver coins were circulating throughout the 7th centuries, first introduced by Heraclius circa 615 AD. This type is currently assigned to the very last years of the 7th and early 8th century. The weight of 3.00-3.25g corresponds quite accurately to half the weight of the Byzantine hexagram (about 6.0-6.5g). Another example was sold in our Auction 14, lot 98, back in 2012.
