Viking hack silver Dirham trade coin

Code: 12288

This is a Viking-age silver Dirham from the Samanid dynasty (AD 892-1005), chopped for use in trade of a bullion economy. Similar coins had been found in a Viking-age hoard from Skaill, Orkney, and the Storr Rock Viking hoard. Most Dirhams were acquired through the Slave Trade, the Vikings delivering Europeans captured in raids to the Islamic emirates of central Asia, see "DIRHAMS FOR SLAVES". The Vikings had a bullion-based economy with trade in the weight of silver, sometimes gold using sophisticated scales and balances. This coin has been cut to a particular weight of silver. This is a nice example.

DENOMINATION: Dirham-cut

CULTURE: Samanid dynasty

DATE: 892 - 1005 A.D.

MATERIAL: Silver

SIZE: 19mm x 15mm 

WEIGHT: 1.86 grams

PROVENANCE: Formerly in a European private collection, in Estonia.