★ The last Muslim ruler in Spain ★

ISLAMIC, al-Andalus (Spain). Nasrids. Muhammad XII ibn 'Ali ibn Sa'd, AH 886-897 / AD 1482-1492. Fals (Bronze, 16 mm, 2.55 g, 6 h), Malaga, AH 892 = AD 1486/7. Lorente 96. Very rare. Light areas of weakness, otherwise, very fine.

This very rare issue was struck by the last Emir of Granada, Muhammad XII, just a few years before the Spanish drove him out of the last Muslim stronghold on the Iberian Peninsula and flee to North Africa. While leaving Granada with his court, Muhammad reportedly looked back at his beloved Granada one last time, sighing loudly at the loss of Garnatah ('hill of strangers' in Arabic), a moment which went down in Spanish legend as the 'Suspiro del Moro' ('The Moor's Sigh' in Spanish).