Catalog
Dirham - Möngke Bolghar mint
| Issuer | Great Mongol Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 1251-1259 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Silver |
| 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 bearing a multi-line Arabic mint legend in naskh script, reading the mint formula indicating issue at Bolghar. The inscription is distributed across the flan in horizontal registers, with the text showing characteristic Mongol-era calligraphic style. The strike is off-center and the flan is irregular, with areas of weak impression consistent with hand-hammered production at a provincial Volga Bulgar mint. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | ضرب بولغار |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Möngke's reign as Great Khan — confirmed at the kurultai of 1251 after a brutal purge of Toluid rivals — brought renewed administrative pressure on western mints to produce standardized coinage. The Bolghar mint, operating in the former Volga Bulgaria heartland absorbed into the Mongol empire decades earlier, struck dirhams at a reduced weight standard that reflects the broader fragmentation of the classical Islamic dirham across territories the Mongols had seized but not yet fully monetarily reorganized. Bolghar itself had been sacked by Batu's forces in 1236 and its reactivation as a mint signals deliberate Mongol investment in extracting fiscal infrastructure from conquered urban centers.