Islamic Coins and their Catalogues IV: The Ḥandūsīs

Abstract

Francés Vañó attempts to identify, collect, describe and classify what he names ḥandūsīs,
fractional coinage from al-Andalus, Islamic Spain. He applies the label to many specimens that
he sees as cut up, clipped or specially manufactured. The identity of the corpus is discussed,
together with the applicability of the term ḥandūsī; the presentation of the material in the
catalogue is described. The conclusion is, first, that we need a full study of the term ḥandūsī
and its meaning in the sources, and secondly that this catalogue may not be dealing with a
properly constituted category of coin, fractional or not.