1 Drachm - Anonymous Ruler Tokhara Yabghus, Hormazd IV imitation, legends

The Tokhara Yabghus controlled Tokharistan — roughly modern northern Afghanistan and southern Tajikistan — as nominal vassals of the Western Türk Qaghanate while operating with considerable autonomy. Their coinage routinely imitated Sasanian prototypes, particularly issues of Hormazd IV, long after that king's death in 590. The practice was purely pragmatic: Sasanian silver had established trade credibility across Central Asia, and local rulers piggybacked on that recognition rather than imposing unfamiliar designs on merchants and tax collectors.

The degraded legends on these pieces accumulated errors across successive die generations, producing inscriptions increasingly remote from the original Pahlavi.