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Sidi Mohammed IV; AH 1276 - 1290, 1859 - 1873 AD
After the death of his father, Abd al-Rahman, Sidi Mohammed IV took the Sultanate. Very shortly after taking the throne, Morocco fought and lost the Spanish-Moroccan War. Berber tribes had been conducting raids on the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla, on the northern coast of Morocco. Spaid had been negotiating with Morocco to attempt to increase their territory around these cities, to help make them more defensible. Morocco was refusing – so Spain declared war and landed a large force at Ceuta. This force then captured the important coastal city of Tetouan. As a result of this defeat, Morocco was forced to sign a treaty granting all of Spain’s desires, as well as paying very large reparations (100 million francs). Spain would retain ownership of Tetouan until the payment was made. This was to be financed by giving half of all customs duties to the Spanish (effectively cutting the Moroccan income in half). The British government satisfied this payment by giving a loan to Morocco, but required a portion of customs proceeds to repay the loan. To help offset this, a new series of taxes were imposed on the tribes, leading to difficult times in the kingdom. Mohammed IV gradually receded into academic studies, until his accidental death in 1873.
As you can see from this coin, the crude hand engraved devices of these coins often led to errors. This is known as a “12887” because the 8 is prominently and obviously doubled. These types of errors are popular and garner a premium, although they are still quite available. This example is a high grade, very attractive coin with a dark copper patina. While it may look like the coin is damaged near the top, this is actually quite common on cast coins. When the coin was broken off the casting tree, the sprue is sometimes unpredictable. Sometimes it will leave a prong, sometimes it will take a small piece of the coin with it. So, what might appear to be damage is a natural variation in the minting (casting) process. Again – these were crudely made, so expectations of quality should be low!