First Bolgar Silver Dinars of 13th Century

Abstract

The article considers silver coins minted in the first half of 13th century in the territory of Bolgar vilayet. All studied coins feature a theophoric name of Baghdad caliph al-Nasir li-din Allah. The author determined the existence of three types of Bolgar dinars and provides metrological parameters for each type of coins. Due to the fact that the year of coinage is not specified on the coins, the author suggests a relative sequence of the minting of the three coin types on the basis of a histogram study. The final date of the minting of Bolgar dinars with the name of An-Nasir is 1251. The author concludes that the presence of caliph an-Nasir’s name on the coins minted in Bolgar cannot be considered an argument in the discussion of their Pre-Mongol or Mongol origin. The dinars have a well-established typological consistency, which has allowed to determine a relative chronology of their minting.

Keywords

• archaeology
• Juchid numismatics
• Bolgar vilayet
• 13th century
• silver dinar
• metrology