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Dirham - Mas'ud al-Khwarizmi Kashgar mint, citing overlord Möngke
| Issuer | Chagatai Khanate |
|---|---|
| Year | 1251-1260 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Reference(s) | KM# 208.1 |
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|---|---|
| Obverse script | Arabic |
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| Reverse description | Central field bears a multi-line inscription in Arabic occupying three registers within a double linear circle, attributing the issue to the local governor Mas'ud al-Khwarizmi and recording the mint authority. The legend is executed in an angular, provincial hand consistent with hammered Chagatai-period coinage of Kashgar. An outer marginal band, partially legible and containing an Old Uyghur legend, encircles the inner inscription field; the Uyghur text, running along the periphery, reflects the bilingual administrative character of Mongol coinage in Transoxiana and Eastern Turkestan. The reverse flan is similarly irregular and heavily patinated, with reddish copper visible through the degraded silver plating. |
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| Additional information |
Möngke's name appearing on a Chagatai issue reflects the fractured reality of post-Toluid division politics — after the 1251 kurultai that placed Möngke on the Great Khan's throne, local governors across Central Asia were required to acknowledge his supremacy explicitly in coinage. Mas'ud al-Khwarizmi's administration at Kashgar complied, producing silver-plated copper issues that almost certainly circulated as if they were solid silver in a region where coin testing was inconsistent.
The base-metal core beneath the silver wash is now frequently exposed on surviving examples, a condition that tells its own story about the fiscal pressures on Chagatai minting operations during the 1250s.