Dirham - temp. Qaidu Khan Otrar

Qaidu Khan never formally held the Chagatai throne — he ruled the eastern Chagatai territories as a powerful warlord and de facto sovereign while keeping puppet khans nominally in place. His coinage from Otrar reflects this awkward political reality: issues struck in his name or under his authority without the full trappings of legitimate succession. Otrar itself, on the Syr Darya, was a major commercial node on the Silk Road and one of the cities whose sack by Mongol forces in 1219 had triggered the full westward campaign.

Album 1985 covers a loose grouping of issues tied to Qaidu's sphere, and attribution of individual specimens can be uncertain given overlapping mint activity at Otrar during this period.