These were recovered from an Islamic State position and documented by a Conflict Armament Research field investigation team in al-Qaim, Iraq, 23 January 2018.

We conduct investigations into the supplies of weapons and associated materiel to terrorist groups worldwide. To do so we deploy on the ground in war zones. This week we recovered a range ofweapons and ammunition from Islamic State (IS or Daesh) forces' positions on the Iraq-Syria border.

Among the weapons, we recovered numerous examples of the attached IS-minted coinage. I limited knowledge of numismatics, but have since consulted several sites which purport to show the forms ofIS currency minted since 2015. These do not accord with our finds and I am inclined to think that few people have viewed this coinage in the metal.

For this reason, I wanted to share the attached images with you, which I took this morning, for the following reasons:

1. I assume that counterfeits of IS coinage already exist and are being traded;

2. Current sources on the internet appear to diverge on the form of the coinage and do not accord with what we have found.

3. We recovered the items during military operations against confirmed IS positions and can confirm that the coins were definitively in service with IS forces at the time of recovery.

I hope that this information will help members of the society in clarifying facts in the years to come. To this effect, please find attached images of the following:

1 dirham coin dated 1437 (Oct 2015-Oct 2016)

2 dirham coin dated 1437 (Oct 2015-Oct 2016)

5 dirham coin dated 1437 (Oct 2015-Oct 2016)

James Bevan adds:

For more information on the Conflict Armament Research organization, see:
http://www.conflictarm.com/

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
QUERY: WERE THESE COINS MADE BY ISIS? (http://www.coinbooks.org/v21/esylum_v21n01a32.html)
ANSWER: WERE THESE COINS MADE BY ISIS? (http://www.coinbooks.org/v21/esylum_v21n02a11.html)
ISLAMIC STATE COINS ON EBAY (http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n34a40.html)