Dirham 'Ornamental type' - anepigraphic Bulghar mint

The so-called "ornamental" or anepigraphic dirhams of the Bulghar mint occupy an awkward corner of Golden Horde numismatics — they carry no legible inscriptions, which has made attribution contentious for generations of specialists. The leading interpretation is that these were struck during a period of administrative fragmentation following Möngke Temür's death in 1280, when minting authority at Bulghar operated with unusual autonomy before Toqta reasserted central control around 1291–1299.

Sagdeeva's classification treats them as a discrete type rather than a degraded imitation, a distinction that meaningfully affects both provenance and valuation.