Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Dirham 'Lion and Sun' - anepigraphic Bulghar mint
| Issuer | Golden Horde |
|---|---|
| Year | 1280-1310 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| 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 |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Central field features a stylized tamga (dynastic symbol) depicted in relief, enclosed within a plain inner circle. The tamga presents as a trident-like or hook-shaped device characteristic of Golden Horde coinage. The inner circle is itself surrounded by a border of large raised pellets forming a continuous ring around the coin's periphery. The coin is anepigraphic, bearing no inscriptional legends on this side. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Bulghar (Bulgar) |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The "Lion and Sun" motif on Golden Horde dirhams of this period derives ultimately from Ilkhanid iconographic borrowing, itself rooted in pre-Islamic Iranian solar symbolism that the Mongol successor states found politically useful without requiring religious endorsement. The Bulghar mint — on the middle Volga — was one of the Horde's most productive northern facilities, serving trade networks that extended deep into Rus' territory and the Baltic fur trade. That this piece is anepigraphic is telling: the absence of a ruler's name suggests either a transitional issue struck between reigns or deliberate ambiguity during the succession conflicts that plagued the Horde after Möngke Temür's death in 1280.