What metal and weight is the Qarakhanid Multiple Dirham — Samarqand?

Billon silver, weighing approximately ~5.5 g.

Arab-Sasanian & Early Islamic

Qarakhanid Multiple Dirham — Samarqand

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.

Key specifications for Qarakhanid Multiple Dirham — Samarqand
Date	AH 415–425 / 1024–1034 CE
Ruler / issuer	Qadir Khan Yusuf
Mint	Samarqand
Metal	Billon silver
Weight	~5.5 g
Era	Arab-Sasanian & Early Islamic (651 – 1258 CE)
Region	Caliphate provinces of Iran

Obverse

Shahada with Qarakhanid Turko-Islamic titles.

Reverse

Ruler's tamgha (tribal sigil) alongside Caliph al-Qa'im's name.

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 Qarakhanid Multiple Dirham — Samarqand?: 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. It was struck in AH 415–425 / 1024–1034 CE at Samarqand under Qadir Khan Yusuf.
What metal and weight is it?: Billon silver, weighing approximately ~5.5 g.
What designs appear on it?: Obverse: Shahada with Qarakhanid Turko-Islamic titles. Reverse: Ruler's tamgha (tribal sigil) alongside Caliph al-Qa'im's name.

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.

Great Mongol Dirham — Bukhara

Möngke Khan (in name of Great Khan)

AH 651–658 / 1253–1260 CE

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.