Dirham - Kaykhusraw II citing caliph Al-Mustansir Lion and Sun type - Seljuq sultans of Rum Konya mint

Kaykhusraw II's decision to place the lion-and-sun motif on his coinage is inseparable from the catastrophe unfolding around him. The Mongol invasion of Anatolia culminated at the Battle of Köse Dağ in July 1243, where the Seljuq army was routed and Kaykhusraw fled the field. The narrow window of this type's production — effectively ended by that defeat — makes it a direct artifact of the sultanate's last moment of independent authority before becoming a Mongol tributary state.

The citation of Abbasid caliph Al-Mustansir is purely political theater; Baghdad itself would fall to Hülegü in 1258, but in the early 1240s invoking caliphal legitimacy still carried weight on Islamic coinage.