Fals - 'Ilkhan' Ghazan Mahmud Khan

Ghazan Khan's conversion to Islam in 1295 — the same year he seized the throne from Baydu — was a genuine political and personal rupture, not a formality. He took the name Mahmud, mandated the destruction of Buddhist temples, churches, and synagogues across the Ilkhanate, and reoriented the entire administrative and monetary apparatus toward Islamic norms. This fals belongs to that reforming moment, issued under a ruler who was simultaneously the first Muslim Ilkhan and a descendant of Genghis Khan navigating Mongol tribal politics with extraordinary care.

Copper fals from this reign are significantly underrepresented in Western collections relative to the silver dirhams, partly because provincial copper issues were rarely systematically catalogued before the Zeno database made anonymous attributions tractable.