Badr al-Din Lu‘lu‘ had been the loyal atabeg to the Zangids of Mosul, but after the death of the last ruler, Nasir al-Din Mahmud, in 631 H (1233 AD) he seized control of their lands for himself. The Abbasid caliph al-Mustansir recognized him as ruler of Mosul with the honorific title al-malik al-rahim (the Merciful King), with the rights of sikka (striking his own coins) and having khutba (the imam’s speech before Friday prayer) said in his name. Badr al-Din was known for his clashes with the lesser surviving Zangids. He also fought the Ayyubid al-Salih Ayyub in the Jazira and al-Nasir Yusuf II in Aleppo. While he did not enjoy conspicuous success in his military campaigns, he made up for it by becoming an astute diplomat. At the end of his life Badr al-Din witnessed, and even contributed to, the Mongol invasion and the fall of the Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad, but he was able to retain Mosul by adroitly declaring himself to be a vassal of Hulagu. He died aged eighty in 657 (1258), after which his three sons ruled one after the other in rapid succession.

The portrait on the obverse of this coin appears to be an adaptation of a tetradrachm of Side in Pamphylia, on the western Mediterranean coast of Turkey, struck in the second-century BC. The head in square design was very likely a personification of the sun, a commonly seen device on the figural coinage of Mesopotamia. In the reverse legends Badr al-Din displays the conciliatory powers of his diplomacy by naming his spiritual overlord and immediate neighbour to the south, the Abbasid caliph al-Mustansir, and then those of his powerful Ayyubid neighbours to the west and north, al-Malik al- Kamil Muhammad and al-Malik al-Ashraf Musa. This act could be viewed as a form of political insurance policy taken out as a demonstration of Badr al-Din’s good will and peaceful intentions to potential troublemakers.