Mongols. Ilkhanids. Abaqa, AH 663-681 / AD 1265-1282. Dirham (Silver, 22 mm, 2.46 g, 12 h), Christian type, Tiflis (in Georgia), Muharram AH 680 = April AD 1281/2. Within a square inside a pearl circle: bi-sm al-Ab / wa-l-Ibn wa-Rūḥ / al-Qudus ilāh / wāḥid (‘In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God’ in Arabic). Below, cross; accompanied by a Georgian letter or tamgha. Margin: Muḥarram sanat thamānīn wa-sitt miʾa (‘[The month of] Muḥarram, year six hundred and eighty’ in Arabic). Rev. Within a pearl circle in lines: Qaγanu / nägü ber / Abaqa-yin / däletkägülük / sen (‘Struck by Abaqa under the authority of the Khan’ in Uyghur). Decorative ornamental devices above and below the inscription. Album 2130. Bennett 305a. Diler A-126. Very minor weakness and small deposits, otherwise, good extremely fine.


This piece is a distinctive Christian Ilkhanid silver dirham of Abaqa struck at Tiflis, combining a Trinitarian Christian invocation in Arabic, a cross motif, and an Uyghur administrative legend.

The issue was struck at Tiflis under local Georgian authority, by David Ulugh (David VI Narin) and Dimitri (Demetre II) of the Bagratid dynasty, in the name of the Ilkhan Abaqa. It reflects the semi-autonomous administration of Georgia under Mongol overlordship and the religious plurality of the Ilkhanid court.