Dirham - Toqta Bulghar mint

Toqta came to power in 1291 after a violent struggle against Nogai, the powerful general who had effectively controlled the western Golden Horde for decades. This dirham, struck at Bulghar just two years into his reign, dates to a moment when Toqta's authority was still being consolidated — Nogai wouldn't be killed until 1299. Bulghar, on the middle Volga, was among the oldest and most commercially active mints in Horde territory, its output feeding trade networks stretching from the Baltic to Central Asia.