GREAT MONGOLS - A UNIQUE SILVER TEN DIRHAM STRUCK AT KURRAMAN IN AH 641 BY THE MONGOL QUEEN TURAKINA IN THE NAME OF THE ABBASSID CALIPH AL-MUSTASIN. Reine Töregene (Turakina), AH 639-644 (1241-1246). 10 Dirhams AH 641 ( 1243-44), al-Kurraman. Inscription sur trois lignes dans un cartouche rectangulaire entouré de rinceaux / Inscription sur trois lignes dans un cartouche rectangulaire entouré de quatre inscriptions. 28,10g. A -.

Unique et de la plus haute importance. Très bel exemplaire.

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The first specimen recorded and previously unpublished, of the highest rarity, very likely unique. When the Great Mongols conquered eastern Afghanistan, with its capital in Ghazna, in AH 618 the inhabitants of the district of Kurraman gave their allegiance to Chingiz Khan, and struck coinage in his name. This coin, originally a treasury piece, was issued in AH 641 during the Great Mongol interregnum when Queen Töregene (Turakina) was acting as regent until she was replaced by her son Güyük, who became Great Khan in AH 644 (1246). Lacking the name of a male Great Khan, the mint of Kurraman chose the next best option. Thus Queen Töregina’s name is not found on the coin, but instead it acknowledges the supreme religious authority, the Abbasid caliph al-Musta’sim. A few of these coins may have made the long journey to Baghdad as Sunni tribute, but the bulk were probably held as a store of wealth to be used as needed for more practical purposes, such as paying the Kurram soldiery. Kurraman means “the Kurrams”, a river system in what are today the tribal borderlands between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The actual location of the mint Bilad al-Kurraman is today the region of Kurram Valley (Parachinar). It is said that the Emperor Babur changed the name of the district from Kurram to Bangash. This remote district, in fertile country south of Kabul, enjoyed a degree of security because it did not lie on the direct route between Kabul and Peshawar. The inhabitants of this tribal area were fiercely independent both then and now. The last known coinage from this mint was struck in the name of the Great Khan Möngke, after which the district disappeared from the numismatic records.