What metal and weight is the Great Mongol Dirham — Bukhara?

Silver, weighing approximately ~2.8 g.

Arab-Sasanian & Early Islamic

Great Mongol Dirham — Bukhara

Pre-Ilkhanate Mongol coinage of Iran and Transoxiana, struck before Hulagu's conversion of his line to a Persian-style sultanate. Image: related Ilkhanid dirham.

Key specifications for Great Mongol Dirham — Bukhara
Date	AH 651–658 / 1253–1260 CE
Ruler / issuer	Möngke Khan (in name of Great Khan)
Mint	Bukhara
Metal	Silver
Weight	~2.8 g
Era	Arab-Sasanian & Early Islamic (651 – 1258 CE)
Region	Caliphate provinces of Iran

Obverse

Mongol tamgha with 'al-Khaqan al-A'zam Mangu Qa'an' in Arabic.

Reverse

Shahada in central panel — pragmatic compromise with the Muslim population.

Historical context — Arab-Sasanian & Early Islamic

Arab governors continued striking Sasanian-style drachms with added Arabic Kufic legends (bismillah). Abd al-Malik's reform (696/77 AH) introduced epigraphic-only Islamic coinage — the silver dirham and gold dinar.

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Frequently asked

What is the Great Mongol Dirham — Bukhara?: Pre-Ilkhanate Mongol coinage of Iran and Transoxiana, struck before Hulagu's conversion of his line to a Persian-style sultanate. Image: related Ilkhanid dirham. It was struck in AH 651–658 / 1253–1260 CE at Bukhara under Möngke Khan (in name of Great Khan).
What metal and weight is it?: Silver, weighing approximately ~2.8 g.
What designs appear on it?: Obverse: Mongol tamgha with 'al-Khaqan al-A'zam Mangu Qa'an' in Arabic. Reverse: Shahada in central panel — pragmatic compromise with the Muslim population.

Ilkhanid-era Silver Dirham

Citing Ghazan Khan as overlord

1296–1304 CE

Reformed coinage after Ghazan's conversion; bilingual issues.

Tahirid Silver Dirham

Tahir ibn Husayn

821–822 CE (AH 206)

Tahir founded the first quasi-independent Iranian Islamic dynasty in Khorasan (821–873), nominally loyal to the Abbasid caliph.

Saffarid Silver Dirham

Ya'qub ibn al-Layth al-Saffar

861–879 CE

The 'Coppersmith' rose from a militia leader in Sistan to ruling Iran from Fars to Khorasan — founder of the Saffarid dynasty and a hero of Iranian self-rule against the Abbasids.

Buyid Silver Dirham

'Adud al-Dawla (Buyid)

AH 372 (982–983 CE)

The Buyids (934–1062) controlled the caliph in Baghdad while openly using Persian royal titulature on their coinage — a deliberate Iranian revival.

Qarakhanid Multiple Dirham — Samarqand

Qadir Khan Yusuf

AH 415–425 / 1024–1034 CE

First major Turkic Islamic dynasty east of the Oxus. Their billon dirhams reflect the chronic silver shortage ('silver famine') that plagued the eastern Islamic world from the late 10th century. Image: related Ghaznavid gold dinar.