So elegant that it was at some point repurposed for use as jewelry. This type of coin was of such high quality that it became highly sought after in the European West, where it became a model for coinage struck in Catholic Iberia and the Italian city-states. It's been said that Florence's Cathedral was paid for by North African coinage.
This style Almohad coin was an ideological statement, with its unique letter type, its square form and its design, and intended to propagate a break with the past. The Almohads weren't just a regime, they were a religious movement.
The coin doesn't note the date. As is common in Almohad coinage, within the square there's a shoutout to the founder of the Almohad movement, Ibn Tumart, and his close lieutenant, Abd al-Mu'min, before the mention of the ruling king (a descendant of the mentioned Abd al-Mu'min). By the time this coin was struck, post-1248, the vast Almohad Empire had been reduced to a small rump state around the southern Moroccan city of Marrakech.
by Bnedem