Dirham - Mas'ud al-Khwarizmi Kashgar mint, citing overlord Möngke

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.