ХАДЖІ-ТАРХАНСЬКІ СРІБНІ МОНЕТИ ХАНА «ВЕЛИКОЇ ОРДИ» МАХМУДА Б. МУХАММАДА Б. ТИМУРА
SILVER COINS OF MAHMUD B. MUHAMMAD B. TIMUR KHAN MINTED IN HAJJI TARKHAN

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the study is to introduce into scholarly literature results of fulfilled research of silver coins of Mahmud b. Muhammad b. Timur khan minted in Hajji Tarkhan and to increase in this way quantity of available sources for historians and numismatists. Research methodology. The method of the analysis of dies for minting coins was used to research the coins that are the subject of this article. Graphic reconstructions of dies and schemes of die conneсtions were made, four grids of dies reconstructions were prepared to the publication. The metrology of the Hajji Tarkhan’s emissions was also analyzed. For dating and adequate understanding of numismatic sources of the reign of Mahmud b. Muhammad khan was used information from written sources and interpretations of these texts by modern scholars. Scientific novelty. The authors managed to obtain information about 191 silver coins of Mahmud b. Muhammad b. Timur minted in Hajji Tarhan. Four types of dangs of this khan were distinguished according to the content of legends of their obverses (so far only two of these types have been published): without the title «sultan» and without the second name nasab; with the title «supreme sultan»; with the title «sultan al-‘adil»; without the title «sultan» and with patronymic and avonymic names. The majority of known Hajji Tarkhan’s coins of Mahmud are of this fourth type. The research of numismatic material by the method of the analysis of dies showed that in the process of minting were used 17 obverse dies and 53 reverse dies. They worked in 68 die pairs. Die conneсtions of Hajji Tarkhan’s coins of Mahmud b. Muhammad with dangs of Muhammad b. Timur, Ahmad b. Muhammad and Mustafa b. Ghiyath al-Din were discovered. Same obverse dies were used for producing Mahmud’s dangs with designation of mint places as Hajji Tarkhan and Ordu Bazar on their reverses. All this is represented in schemes of graphic reconstruction of dies. Photographs of dangs of several late Juchid khans are published for the first time. Die conneсtions with main die grids are absent only for three die pairs. Two isolated die chains, consisting of five die pairs, were discovered. The bulk of the used die pairs forms two grids of dies reconstructions. The first grid includes 35 die pairs, the second – 25. The existence of die conneсtions of dangs of Mahmud b. Muhammad with two obverse dies of dangs Muhammad b. Timur and one Mustafa’s obverse was discovered in the first grid. The name of the khan is written on obverse die AMh2 as Muhammad, without patronymic name. Authors suppose that this die conneсtion allows to attribute this type of dang as an emission of Muhammad b. Timur. The second die grid consists of two distinct parts. These parts are interconnected by die conneсtions of two obverses (A11 and A13) with a reverse, on which is written a designation of mint place as Ordu Bazar. Part of the second grid, united by two obverses A11 and A12, has die conneсtions with dangs of Muhammad b. Timur, Mustafa b. Ghiyath al-Din, Ahmad. Obverse die with Ahmad’s name were used in die pairs with five Mahmud’s reverse dies. The second part of this grid (die obverses A13, A14, A15) does not have such connections, but there are several reverse dies in it that differ from the rest in this group in the style of legend writing. Of particular interest is the presence of three reverse dies of Mahmud b. Muhammad dangs with the minting place Ordu Bazar indicated on them in the second grid. The connection of one of these reverses (ROB 1.1) with obverse die A13 combines two parts of the second grid. The Conclusions. Metrology of the emission: the weight of 64 coins is known, the modal weight is 0.65 g, the average weight – 0.65 g. It can be assumed that the legitimate weight of the Hajji Tarkhan dangs of Mahmud b. Muhammad was higher than 0.65 by several hundredths of a gram (about 0.70 g). None of Mahmud’s silver coins bears the date, which creates significant difficulties in the dating of these emissions. Therefore the authors examined historical information about the political career of the son of Kichi-Muhammad. The reign of Mahmud khan was usually dated, until very recently, 1459 – 1476 AD. Some years ago, however, a version was pushed about two reigns of this khan, the first began from the moment of Muhammad’s death in the mid-1440s and lasted several years. Then Abu l-Khair khan, taking advantage of the youth of Mahmud and Ahmad, attacked them and defeated their army. The princes were forced to flee and temporarily leave the arena of active political struggle. After the defeat of Abu l-Khair by the Kalmyks, at the beginning of the second half of the 1450s, Mahmud had returned to his father’s throne again. A narrative source reports that Mahmud was no longer alive at the end of April 1476. Thus, the reign of Mahmud b. Muhammad b. Timur can be dated by a time interval from the mid-1440s to about 1476. The authors are inclined to date analyzed dangs widely by the years of Mahmud’s reign (mid-1440s – mid-1470s.). It is logical to assume that the coins of Mustafa were struck after the coins of the son of KichiMuhammad, minted at the beginning of his reign. Most of the Hajji Tarhan coins of Mahmud b. Muhammad, with which the dangs of Mustafa have die connections, bear standard form of coin legends on both sides. We can see on schemes of die conneсtions that no long break between two reigns of Mahmud b. Muhammad in Hajji-Tarhan emissions of his coins can be detected. The majority of coins are minted in one ongoing time period. And this period is connected, judging by the discovered die connections, with the short reign of Mustafa (possibly before and after his reign). Prospects for further studies. The authors presume that proposed paper does not close the subject of Hajji-Tarkhan silver emissions of khan Mahmud b. Muhammad b. Timur, they hope that it will more likely open it: published results of the research could and must intensify the study of both numismatic and historical problems of the subject. It is necessary to continue accumulation and processing of numismatic sources looking for answers to live issues about the political career of Mahmud b. Muhammad b. Timur khan.

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