1/2 Bisti - Heraclius II Bagrationi Coat of Arms

Heraclius II — known in Georgian as Erekle II — struck this issue during a period when Kartli-Kakheti was navigating near-constant pressure from Ottoman and Persian forces while simultaneously courting Russian alliance. The bisti denomination was a Persian-derived unit that had embedded itself into Georgian commercial life over generations of Safavid influence. This coin predates the Treaty of Georgievsk by seventeen years, the agreement that would place the kingdom under Russian protection in 1783 and effectively end its monetary independence within a generation.