Description
Fatimid, Interregnum, al-Muntazar (AH 524-526 / 1130-1131 AD), gold Dinar, AH 525 / 1130/1, Misr, 4.18g (N. 2590). Good Very Fine to About Extremely Fine. Extremely rare. Only three other examples of this ruler, mint and date have ever been on the auction market.
One of the rarest Fatimid Dinars – Interregnum period
When the Fatimid Caliph al-Amir was assassinated in AH 524, al-Hafiz was named as his successor but was not initially given the title of Caliph. Al-Hafiz was imprisoned by the ambitious Kutayfat, whose father had been a vizier under al-Amir and who wanted to seize power for himself. Kutayfat declared the Fatimid dynasty deposed and proclaimed the sovereignty of al-Mahdi, the twelfth Imam of the Twelver Shi’is, whose coming had been expected for more than 250 years. Coins naming the fictive Caliph al-Muntazar were in fact struck by Kutayfat. His grasp to power did not last long and he was deposed and executed in AH 526, being succeeded by the Fatimid heir, al-Hafiz.
