Identify year of coin: Islamic coins
Determining the year of minting of a coin is an important aspect of the identification of your coin. For most countries this isn't hard, as it is written on the coin using the Gregorian or Western calendar. But when it comes, for instance, to Chinese, Japanese or Arab coins, this could be a more hazzardess job.
Therefore, I tried to make a tutorial (based on several websites and Wikipedia) how to read these years and how to translate them to the Gregorian calendar.
Therefore, I tried to make a tutorial (based on several websites and Wikipedia) how to read these years and how to translate them to the Gregorian calendar.
Islamic Calendar
Note: The Iranian calendar doesn't follow the Islamic calendar, see: Persian coins.
The Islamic Calendar is based on the moon (lunar calendar) and starts with the year that the prophet Muhammed emigrated from Mecca to Medina (Hijra). A lunar year is a bit shorter than a Western year. This means that the years aren't synchronized.
Coins using the Islamic Calendar usually originate from countries in the Middle-East and North-Africa.
The year is easy to be found on the coin. It consists of 4 Arabic and 4 Western numbers. The Arabic numbers and their western counterparts are given here:
The Islamic Calendar is based on the moon (lunar calendar) and starts with the year that the prophet Muhammed emigrated from Mecca to Medina (Hijra). A lunar year is a bit shorter than a Western year. This means that the years aren't synchronized.
Coins using the Islamic Calendar usually originate from countries in the Middle-East and North-Africa.
The year is easy to be found on the coin. It consists of 4 Arabic and 4 Western numbers. The Arabic numbers and their western counterparts are given here:
| ١ | ٢ | ٣ | ٤ | ٥ | ٦ | ٧ | ٨ | ٩ | ٠ |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 |
Easy to use formulas, to convert from Islamic to Gregorian or the other way around, are given here:
To convert the Hijra calendar to a Gregorian year use the formula:
To convert the Hijra calendar to a Gregorian year use the formula:
G = (0.97023×H) + 621.57
To convert the Gregorian calendar to a Hijra year use the formula:
H = (G-621.57)/0.97023
An easy to use converter can be found by following this link: http://en.numista.com/numisdoc/calendar-islamic-30.html
