1 Drachm - Sashro Khusru I imitation, Chaghaniyan, countermark

Chaghaniyan occupied the upper Surkhan Darya valley in what is now southern Uzbekistan, a frontier zone that changed hands repeatedly between the Sasanian empire, the Western Türk Khaganate, and eventually the expanding Umayyad caliphate. Local rulers issued imitative drachms closely copying Sasanian types — specifically Khusru I — because the Sasanian silver standard was the accepted currency of regional commerce long after Sasanian political authority had collapsed. The countermark is the tell: it announces local sovereignty over a borrowed monetary form.