A Silver Coin from Baghdad

by Marcus Milwright | Talking about art

How did coins made in ninth-century Iraq end up in Scandinavia? This talk examines a silver coin (dirham) minted in Baghdad and connects it to the active trading networks that spread north from the eastern regions of the Islamic world from the late eighth to the end of the tenth centuries.

Silver coin minted in Madinat al-Salam (Baghdad) in 803-804 CE.
Private collection, Victoria.