King Offa of Mercia

King Offa of Mercia, who reigned between 757AD and 796AD, minted hundreds of Gold dinars featuring his name and the Islamic declaration of faith. The Anglo-Saxon moneyer who made the coins clearly did not understand Arabic. The Arabic inscription is upside down in relation to Offa’s name, and there is abundant evidence Offa was Christian, not Muslim.

King Offa's coins featured the Islamic declaration 'No God but Allah.' This example is only known to exist.

This gold coin might have been one of 365 gold coins Offa reportedly sent to the pope in Rome. Offa may have chosen to mint the gold dinar because it was the dominant coinage in the Mediterranean in this period.

Many surviving coins from Offa's reign carry elegant depictions of him. Some of his coins carry images of his wife, Cynethryth—the only Anglo-Saxon queen ever depicted on a coin. Only three gold coins of Offa's have survived: one is a copy of an Abbasid dinar of 774.