Rare silver damma of governor al-Rabbi', Multan, ca. 712-856 AD, Umayyad and Abbasid governors of Multan, among the first Islamic coins in India!

Crude bust facing left / Three dots, stylized "Sri" above, Nagari letters "Ta" and "Pa+" in fields, below Lillah al-Rabbi' in arabic. 12mm, 0.6 grams. 

These coins are derived from the earlier "Sri Tapana" pre-Islamic Multan coins. These probably have the distinction of being among the very first Islamic coins struck in India. These early Islamic types were first discovered some 10 years or so ago, and were never properly studied or published. They are often attributed to the Habbarid rulers of Sindh and Multan, but the names on these coins do not correspond to the names of the known Habbarid rulers, and these coins are probably . I am currently working on an article on these coins which will be hopefully published in this summer's issue of JONS.