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About British Empire

BRITISH EMPIRE COINS

The British Empire was at its peak in 16^th & 17^th centuries ,when the sun never set on the Britsh Empire because of the colonies all over the world.

In 1783 Britain lost the war of Independence in North America  but went on to expand its colonies in Africa ,Asia and oceanic as well as Australia.

 

The Queen or Kings head at the time was hallmarked into all colonies coins from India,Australia,New Zealand,Malaysia,East asfrica,Canada,Sth Rhodesia,Zanibar ,St settlement,Jamacia,Mauritius,Hong Kong,Gibraltor,Ceylon ,Bermuda ,

 

 Most of these coins still had the local currency as Pysa in Zanzibar,Mils in Palestine,Rupee in Mauritius and India and cents in Africa,But other countries carried forward with traditional British currency ,Pound s,Shilling Pence .

Today  these nations are known as the Commonwealth .

One of the most mysterious coins ever minted in the British Islands is the gold mancus with the name of king Offa of Mercia, 757-796. The curious thing about the coin is not that it belongs to king Offa, who minted other coins as well, or the fact that the coin is made from gold, because other coins of that time are made from this material.

The interesting thing is that the name OFFA REX (King Offa) is written in Latin characters while the rest of the legend, circular around the king’s name is written with… Arab alphabet.

Why a British King minted an Arab coin?

 

First of all, the mancus was a gold coin, with a weight of 4,2-4,3 g. It had a similar weight and title with the most known gold coin of the time, the Byzantine solidus (also nicknamed “the dollar of the Middle Age” as it was used as currency in all Europe). From the Byzantine Empire, the solidus went in Europe as a coin but also served as inspiration for an Arab coin. Here the coin was known as dinar. The dinar was also used in transactions by the Arab populations, including in the areas that they occupied. And in the 8^th century, this also meant Spain. From here, the coin reached France and England, as a payment method. In England, this coin was minted by several kings, and had the value of 30 silver pence.  

The coin was used in the British Islands since the 8^th century. In 796, Pope Leon III wrote king Coenwulf of Mercia and asked him if he was willing to keep the promise of his predecessor, King Offa, to pay each year 365 mancuses (one per day) as a tribute to Rome, in the name of the Holy Religion.

We don’t know what Ceonwulf answered, but it seems that Offa paid the Holy Church 365 mancuses, starting 786. And he knew and used this coin.

An amazing discovery of a gold coin proved that this tribute of king Offa is not a legend. The coin is a gold mancus. At a first look, it is a normal Arab gold coin. On the obverse, it has the circular legend Muḥammad rasūl Allāh arsalahu bi-l-huda wa dīn al-ḥaqq liyudhhiru ala al-dini kullahi wa-law karih-al-mushrikūn. This formula is written with Arabian characters and means “Muḥammad is the messenger of God whom He sent with guidance and the religion of truth that He might make it prevail over all religions even if the associators are averse". And it’s a classical text used by Muslims. In the center it is written on 3 lines the formula: lā-ilaha il-Allāh waḥdahu la sharīkalah, the classical formula for a Muslim “There is no god but God alone, He has no associate". When a man said this, it was considered that he became a Muslim, as he recognized Allah as the Only God.

 

On the reverse, the circular legend is bism Allāh ḍuriba hadhā al-dīnār fī sanat mi' khamsa wa saba un. This means: "In the name of God, this dinarr was struck (duriba) in the year 157”. The year 157 Hegira is corresponding to year 774 AD. In the center, the legend seems normal: Muḥammad rasūl Allāh, Mohammed is the messenger of Allah (God), another classical quotation for Muslims.

But between the lines, a clear Latin inscription, on 2 lines, mentions the name of the king OFFA/REX.

This coin has a weight of 4,28 g. It is kept in London, at The British Museum and it is unique until now. If a similar coin will ever be found and appear on the coin market, it will probably be one of the most expensive and rare coins of the world.

The coin was probably minted in England. The engraver had a real gold dinar, minted by caliph al-Mansur to serve him as a model, but he didn’t know the Arab alphabet and he made some mistakes, as he only copied the legend as a drawing and not as a text.

This is also proved by the fact that OFFA REX is not written in the similar direction with the Arab legend but upside down. This is evidence that the engraver didn’t know how to hold the coin. But, the most important thing, he also copied the year on the original coin, so this mancus is minted not soon after 774.

Was this coin a part of a special production, meant to be sent to Rome? A pattern?

It is hard to say.

The similarities with the dinar are an argument that this coin was meant to circulate. Otherwise, why imitate a popular coin?

One other problem of this coin is the fact that it created the following legend: Offa minted an Arab coin as he became a Muslim. Until now, no other argument was found in favour of this hypothesis and it has low chances to be a historical fact.

 

Vasilita Stefan

 

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