ISLAMIC, Seljuks. Rum

Ghiyath al-Din Kay Khusraw II bin Kay Qubadh. AH 634-644 / AD 1237-1246. AR Dirham (23mm, 2.94 g, 5h). Sivas mint. Dated 638 (AD 1240/1). Broome 274Dv(ii)c; cf. Izmirlier 457 (for type) Album 1218; ICV 1340 Between 638 and 641 A.H. (ca. 1240 to 1243) a series of remarkable silver dirhams were struck in Kaykhusraws name at Sivas and Konya depicting a lion and sun. While coins with images are not unknown in Islamic lands, particularly in the centuries following the Crusades, some Islamic traditions forbid representations of living things. Several explanations of the lion and sun have been offered. One suggests that the images represent the constellation Leo, the astrological sign of Kaykhusraw's beloved Georgian wife Tamar. Another says that the lion represents Kaykhusraw and the sun Tamar. CNG 405 lot 663 9/6/17