Owner Comments:
The year AH1299 (1882 AD) saw the introduction of modern, milled coinage in Morocco. These first series were minted in Paris, as was most of the subsequent silver coinage. Some of the minor copper denominations would be struck in Fes, but only copper coinage. Paris struck more coins for Morocco than any other mint. Other mints used include Berlin, Poissy, Birmingham, and London. The predominance of the Paris mint demonstrates France’s growing influence in the region, and shows how France was gradually taking over the country (I’ll discuss this process in more detail later in the set).
The 1299 dated coins have by far the highest mintages of their respective series. These completely new, standardized, machine made coins would replace the crude hammered coinage current at the time, and so a large quantity was required. Under Sultay Moulay al-Hasan, the half dirham, dirham, 2.5 dirhams, 5 dirhams, and 10 dirhams would be minted (all at Paris). And, because this is a modern mint, there were accurate records kept of mintage numbers! This makes collecting these coins significantly easier!
The 10 Dirham coin of AH1299 (1882 AD) is a giant coin. It weighs more than the US Morgan dollar, and it is a larger coin. It is also a single year type, with a mintage of only 870,000. It isn’t rare, but it isn’t nearly as common as many other coins of this era. Certified populations are generally quite low – in MS-64, there are 4 graded with a single coin higher at 65.
My coin is simply stunning. Many advertisers will claim that their coins have rainbow color – this one really does. The luster makes these colors pop. I think my favorite is the sky blue color around the double-lined Seal of Solomon on the obverse. This gives it a really unique, and very attractive appearance. I bought this coin on Ebay, but after doing a bit of research I found this coin had sold on Heritage a few months earlier. The pictures on Heritage are simply awful! They are dark and gray and underlit…. This coin needs the light to really show you what it has.