MOROCCO - A UNIQUE SET OF THE BEGINNING OF MOROCCAN COINAGE. Hassan I, AH 1290-1311 (1873-1894). Série de 4 essais : 10, 5, 1, et 1/2 Dirham AH 1298 (1880-81), Paris. ESSAIS en ARGENT (10 et 5 Dirhams) et en CUIVRE (1 et 1/2 Dirham). FRAPPE MEDAILLE. Inscription sur 3 lignes et date / Inscription sur 3 et 2 lignes. Tranches striées. 27,00g., 13,50g., 2,95g., et 1,82g. Lecompte 7 (cet exemplaire), 6 (cet exemplaire), manque (1 et 1/2 Dirham).

Une série unique et extraordinaire. A l'état de frappe. (4)

Notes
Outstanding set of these extremely rare patterns. Only 3 specimens of the 10 Dirhams piece and 4 specimens of the 5 Dirhams piece recorded by Lecompte including these two. The 1 and ½ Dirham patterns are unlisted by Lecompte, Krause, and Eustache. In Daniel Eustache's corpus “Les Monnaie Alawites”, volume 2, page 1183 and 1184, he publishes examples of the 10 Dirhams (no. 1298) and the 5 Dirhams (1299).  The obverse legend on all the coins in this lot reads: “sikka hasani duriba Bariz am 1298”, and the reverse “‘ashra  (10) dirahim shari’ya”, then “khams (5) dirahim”, “dirham” (1) and “nisf (1/2) dirham shar’iya”.  The extraordinary rarity of this set is shown by the fact that Eustache was unable to record any example of either the Dirham or the half Dirham.  The weight of the Dirham, 2.95 grams, also shows that that coin was in full compliance with the weight of the “shari” ("legal") Dirham.