^Lot 332 UMAYYAD: Hisham, 724-743, AV dinar (4.24g), NM (Damascus), AH111

UMAYYAD: Hisham, 724-743, AV dinar (4.24g), NM (Damascus), AH111, A-136, minor graffiti above reverse field, nearly Extremely Fine, ex. Robert Pelletreau collection. Graffiti was normally scratched into the blank area of the field by the owner for two reasons, either to guarantee its authenticity (much like ink stamps on US $100 notes) or to indicate that he was the owner. Graffiti on Umayyad and early Abbasid dinars (until about AH220) should not be regarded as a defect but rather as an aspect of contemporary monetary tradition, ditto for silver dirhams.