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Dirham 'Zoomorphic type' - anonymous Bulghar mint
| Issuer | Golden Horde |
|---|---|
| Year | 1280-1310 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Dirham / Dang / Yarmag (0.7) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| 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 |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Arabic |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Reverse bears a bold frontal zoomorphic face, most likely a stylized bull or ox head (bucrania), rendered in a highly schematic manner characteristic of the Bulghar 'zoomorphic' dirham series. The animal face is depicted with large almond-shaped eyes, a broad muzzle with two pellets below, and prominent horns or ears extending upward into the field. Surrounding decorative elements include foliate or vegetal scrolls framing the central motif. The entire composition is executed in the primitive yet expressive hammered style associated with anonymous Golden Horde issues of the Bulghar mint. No legible inscription is present on this side. |
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| Edge | Log in to see details |
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| Additional information |
The "zoomorphic" anonymous dirhams of the Bulghar mint occupy a genuinely odd corner of Golden Horde numismatics. Struck during a period when the Horde's western khans were navigating conversion to Islam — Berke had converted, but orthodox Islamic iconographic norms had not yet fully suppressed older steppe artistic traditions — these pieces reflect a minting authority comfortable enough with animal imagery to put it on silver currency. That tension didn't last. By the early fourteenth century, Özbeg Khan's consolidation of Sunni Islam across the Horde ended the ambiguity.
Bulghar on the Volga was one of the Horde's principal northern mints, serving trade networks reaching deep into Rus and the Baltic fur markets.