Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Asper / Akce - Philip Maria Visconti in name of Ulugh Muhammad Khan
| Issuer | City of Caffa (Genoese colonies) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1421-1435 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Central field bears a Tatar tamga (dynastic emblem) with a single dot enclosed within a circle, serving as the primary device. Surrounding the tamga, within the field and border area, is a degenerate Arabic legend that has become largely illegible through stylistic degradation, nominally referencing Khan Ulugh Muhammad. The overall composition reflects the bilingual, bicultural monetary tradition of Genoese Caffa, which struck coinage acceptable to both its Genoese administrators and its Tatar overlords. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | ND (1421-1435) |
| Additional information |
Caffa, the Genoese trading entrepôt on the Crimean coast, operated under a carefully managed fiction of Tatar suzerainty throughout much of the fifteenth century. These aspres name Ulugh Muhammad Khan — the Jochid ruler who consolidated power over the western steppe in the early 1420s — while the issuing authority remained the commune of Caffa under its own administration. The Genoese had long understood that placing a khan's name on their coinage was the price of doing business on the Black Sea.
Philip Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan, held nominal authority over Caffa through Genoese political arrangements of the period. His name appearing alongside a Tatar khan's on a Crimean silver piece captures the layered sovereignty of the colony precisely.