Sicily Golden coin tari of Robert Guiscard 1072 A.D. - 464 A.H.

    Gold coin (quarter dinar, called the tarì) struck in Sicily, "by order of Duke Robert, illustrious Lord of Sicily" (inscription in the field, on the coin's obverse), "... in Sicily, in the year 464" (circular legend, on the coin's obverse). The inscriptions are in Arabic, and give a date in the Moslem calendar corresponding to the year 1072. The legend on the reverse bears a verse of a sura from the Koran. Sicilian coinage from the start of the Norman period preserved certain Islamic characteristics, probably for both economic and political reasons.

Dimensions of the object
D. 13 mm ;  0,90 g

Bibliography
- B. La Gumina "Catalogo delle monete arabe esistenti nella Biblioteca Comunale di Palermo" Palermo 1892
- "L'età normanna e sveva in Sicilia", Catalogo della mostra storico-documentaria e bibliografica. Organizzata dall' Assemblea Regionale Siciliana nel Palazzo dei Normanni a Palermo, 1994 (Monete serie III a cura di M. De Luca)

Location
Palermo, Biblioteca Comunale

Photography
G Cappellani