Mongols. Great Khans. Möngke, AH 649-658 / AD 1251-1260. Dirham (Silver, 21 mm, 2.72 g, 12 h), Ganja, AH 650 = AD 1252/3. Within a beaded square, ‘lā ilāha illā / Allāh Muḥammad / rasūl Allāh’ (‘There is no deity but Allah. Muhammad is the messenger of Allah’ in Arabic); in the margin, ‘ḍuriba hādhā al-dirham bi Kanja’ (‘This dirham was struck in Ganja’ in Arabic). Rev. Within a beaded square, ‘munkh khan / khaqan ile / etil’ (‘Möngke Khan, struck by the Khaqan’ in Uighur); in the margin, ‘fī sana / khamsīn / wa sitta miʾa’ (‘in the year 650’ in Arabic). Album 1977A. Extremely rare. Beautiful iridescent toning. Minor areas of weakness, otherwise, good very fine.
‘ile etil’ on the reverse may be the Uighur transcription of Arabic ‘al-ʿādil’ (‘just’), hence: ‘Möngke Khan, the just Khaqan’. Furthermore, the date on this specimen is clearly AH 650, not AH 655 (as, e.g., in Album 1977A)