Coin Umayyad Caliphate Anonymous - Fals, dated without mint - 91 / 99 AH Kairouan ?

This anonymous Umayyad copper fals belongs to an issue dated between 91 and 99 AH (709?718 CE). The date, although present on the type, appears here partially off-flan. The specimen bears no mint mark, but this North African type can be attributed to the mint of Kairouan, in present-day Tunisia, on the basis of specialised numismatic studies, notably those published in the Bulletin du Cercle d'Études Numismatiques (BCEN, vol. 52, no. 2), from page 16 onwards.

This fals is part of the copper coinage production of the Umayyad Caliphate, characterised by epigraphic types with Arabic legends and no figurative representation, in accordance with the monetary reforms initiated under Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan from 77 AH (696?697 CE).

The period 90?99 AH corresponds to the reigns of Al-Walid I (86?96 AH / 705?715 CE) and then Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik (96?99 AH / 715?717 CE), an era marked by strong territorial expansion. In North Africa, the Islamic conquest of the Maghreb was being completed and consolidated. Kairouan, founded around 50 AH (670 CE) by Uqba ibn Nafi, was then the capital of the province of Ifriqiya and the main administrative, military and economic centre of the region. It was from this base that the Umayyad armies launched the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula from 92 AH (711 CE), crossing the Strait of Gibraltar under the command of Tariq ibn Ziyad, and later Musa ibn Nusayr. The Kairouan mint played an important logistical and economic role in supporting these military campaigns and in integrating the newly conquered territories into the administrative and monetary structures of the Caliphate.

This fals is a rare variety with "Fi" present at the beginning of the second line (usually found at the end of the first line).