1 Falus – Morocco
Morocco
Context
Year: 1723
Islamic (Hijri) Year: 1135
Issuer: Morocco 
Ruler: Isma‘il al-Samin
Currency:
(1659—1882)
Demonetized: Yes
References
KM: #Click to copy to clipboardA28.1
Numista: #157538
Obverse
Reverse
Edge
Mintings
| Year | Mint Mark | Mintage | Quality | Collection |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1723 | — | — |
Historical background
In 1723, the currency situation in the Alaouite Sultanate of Morocco was characterized by significant instability and complexity, a direct legacy of the turbulent reign of Sultan Moulay Ismail (1672–1727). The Sultan’s immense expenditures on monumental construction projects, like the palace-city of Meknes, and the maintenance of a vast standing army (the ‘Abid al-Bukhari), placed enormous strain on the state treasury. This financial pressure led to frequent debasement of the silver coinage, particularly the ubiquitous dirham. The government often reduced the silver content of newly minted coins or increased the nominal value of existing coins by official decree, eroding public trust and causing price inflation in markets.
The monetary system itself was a fragmented bimetallic system, operating without a standardized national coinage. Various silver dirhams of differing weights and purities circulated alongside gold benduqi coins and a plethora of low-value copper fulus for everyday small transactions. Crucially, a vast quantity of foreign coins, especially Spanish pieces of eight (reales) and other European silver, circulated in port cities and trading centers due to Morocco’s active maritime trade and privateering. This created a dual economy: a relatively stable foreign-coin economy for large-scale and international trade, and a volatile domestic-coin economy for local transactions, with exchange rates between them constantly fluctuating.
This monetary chaos was exacerbated by regional fragmentation. While the Sultan controlled the mints in cities like Marrakech and Fez, local governors and tribal leaders sometimes issued their own crude coinage, further undermining central authority and uniformity. The result was a climate of uncertainty for merchants and the populace, where the value of money was unstable and often contested. The currency situation of 1723 thus reflects a state financing ambitious imperial projects through inflationary measures, at the cost of a coherent monetary policy and economic predictability.
The monetary system itself was a fragmented bimetallic system, operating without a standardized national coinage. Various silver dirhams of differing weights and purities circulated alongside gold benduqi coins and a plethora of low-value copper fulus for everyday small transactions. Crucially, a vast quantity of foreign coins, especially Spanish pieces of eight (reales) and other European silver, circulated in port cities and trading centers due to Morocco’s active maritime trade and privateering. This created a dual economy: a relatively stable foreign-coin economy for large-scale and international trade, and a volatile domestic-coin economy for local transactions, with exchange rates between them constantly fluctuating.
This monetary chaos was exacerbated by regional fragmentation. While the Sultan controlled the mints in cities like Marrakech and Fez, local governors and tribal leaders sometimes issued their own crude coinage, further undermining central authority and uniformity. The result was a climate of uncertainty for merchants and the populace, where the value of money was unstable and often contested. The currency situation of 1723 thus reflects a state financing ambitious imperial projects through inflationary measures, at the cost of a coherent monetary policy and economic predictability.
✨ Legendary