Islamic - Early Post-Reform，UMAYYAD: Abd al-Malik, 685-705, AR dirham (2.69g), Balkh (?), AH80, A-126, tentative reading of the mint name, slightly clipped at the margin, otherwise lovely bold strike, unpublished, VF-EF, RRRR. The consignor suggested a "strange issue of Jayy mint", but the style is wrong for Jayy. The style, calligraphy, and arrangement is very similar to the dirhams of Balkh AH82 (our auction 27, lot 146) and Tukharistan AH80 (Morton & Eden auction 69, lot 20), and not all that different from the early issue of Marw & Herat. Thus a northeastern mint seems much more likely than a central Iranian location. The Balkh 82 issue also has a rather crudely engraved mint name, but is stylistically very similar to this piece. It seem possible that the engraved may have copied a Jayy dirham and was unsure how to engrave the mint name, which could be interpreted as either "jayy" or "balkh".
