Riyadh: The King Abdul Aziz General Library in Riyadh acquired recently a distinct collection of rare Islamic coins from different places in the Muslim world. The pieces are considered unique or extremely rare. Among the rare coins is the Abbasid dirham, which was issued in the year 140H (757/758AD) in Basra during the period of the Caliph Abu Jaafar Al-Mansour. There is also a gold dinar from the Omayyad period minted in 73H (692/693AD) and a rare Arabic/Sassanid coin minted in Damascus two years later. The library also acquired rarities issued in Makkah, Madinah, Bisha, Sanaa, Amman and other cities. These coins are now part of the collection of about 7,000 at the library and are available to researchers and scholars.