This unique gold coin of Offa, king of Mercia, is one of the most remarkable English coins of the Middle Ages. It is remarkable because it imitates a gold dinar of the caliph al-Mansur, ruler of the Islamic cAbbasid dynasty....A quick google finds lots of Islamic web sites claiming Offa was a Muslim.
The purpose of the coin is uncertain.,,,It is more likely that it was designed for use in trade; Islamic gold dinars were the most important coinage in the Mediterranean at the time.
Offa's coin looked enough like the original that it would be readily accepted in southern Europe, while at the same time his own name was clearly visible.
A more likely reason was that trade links with Spain or the Muslim world existed.
Wikipedia article about King Offa of Mercia (there are several Anglo Saxon Lords named Offa...this was the British one who was a "king" who may or may not have constructed Offa's Dike)
That the Muslim presence in Britain stretches back to the 9th century when the Anglo-Saxon King Offa had the Islamic dinar minted in his name. This clearly shows that Anglo-Saxon England had trading relations with the Muslim world and that the dinar was the ‘dollar’ of early medieval Europe.
Many surviving coins from Offa's reign carry elegant depictions of him and the artistic quality of these images exceeds that of the contemporary Frankish coinage. 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, and carries Arabic text on one side of the coin, with "Offa Rex" on the other side. The gold coins are of uncertain use but may have been struck to be used as alms or for gifts to Rome.
In search of the Dark Ages: by Michael Wood: King Offa
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