The Alhambra acquires another two Nasrid gold coins

Patronato de la Alhambra y Generalife (PAG) has recently acquired another two gold coins from the Nasrid kingdom of Granada, specifically a doubloon from the time of Muhammad V (1362-1391), considered “very rare” by experts, and a doubloon from the time of Muhammad VII (1392-1408). Both coins would have been minted around the end of the 16th century.
The coins have been incorporated into the PAG collection, currently on show in Room I of the Museum of the Alhambra, as part of the exhibition Nasrid Doubloons, with other gold coins acquired previously and dated to the time of sultan Yusuf I (1333-1354).
The dinars minted by the Nasrid sultans were known as “doubloons” or doblas to their Christian contemporaries, and certain exceptional pieces have survived to this day. Doubloons constituted the basis of the Nasrid gold coinage system.
Yusuf I gold doubloons were minted following the Almohad pattern, sharing a common formal and symbolic feature – the square combined with the circle. The inscription on the reverse of each of these four coins, as in the walls of the Alhambra, repeats the dynastic motto of the Nasrid sultanate, “There is no conqueror but God” and the Arab term al-mulk (“the power”), underlining the dominant role of the single deity and the legitimisation of political power through religious ideology.