Töle Buqa
Qrim   Golden Horde   AH 686-689

Yarmak AR 18

SHH 376

Parameter Obverse Reverse Notes Reference

1.67 g   16.9-18.9 mm   9:00 o'clock   VF Inscription with Jujid tamgha; dog/panther left below; all within triple border, the intermediate consisting of dots. Inscription; all within triple border, the intermediate consisting of dots. Minted in Qrim. "This is a silver Yarmak (or Dirham) of the Golden Horde, in the name of the Golden Horde ruler Tola Buqa (AH 686-689/ 1287-1290 CE) and with the name of Noghai, a great-great grandson of Chingiz (Genghis) Khan and grandson of Jochi. Jochi was the founder of the Golden Horde, also known as the Jujid (Jochid) dynasty. Noghai was a general and powerbroker/kingmaker during the reigns of six Golden Horde khans from Batu through Toqtu. The obverse of this coin has a figure of an animal (perhaps a dog, see below) walking left, tail curved downward, Tola Buqa’s two-eared tamga above the animal and with zarb qrim (struck in Qrim in Arabic) on either side of the tamga. The reverse is in Uighur (Mongol script) in four lines. The first two lines (from left to right - Uighur is written top to bottom) read Tola Buqa. The third line has not been read, and the fourth line reads Noghai. The coin is undated. Noghai was responsible for Tola Buqa’s ascent as ruler of the Golden Horde in AH 686, and also for his being dethroned in AH 689 and his ultimate execution and replacement by Toqtu. Noghai had hoped that the young Toqtu would be an easily manipulable puppet, but Toqtu was strong-willed and perceived Noghai as a dangerous rival. His armies eventually defeated and killed Noghai in battle in AH 699/ 1300 CE. Noghai’s base of power was in present-day Romania. There are coins from the mint of Saqci, present-day Issacea on the Romanian coast of the Black Sea, with Noghai’s tamga. The name (in Arabic) on the coins can be read either as Noghai or as a variant of Toqtu. The only coin with Noghai’s name written unambiguously in Arabic is an extremely rare Yarmak or Dirham from the Qrim mint, an example of which is in the collection of the Hermitage and published by Severova. This coin appears to be the earliest mention of Noghai on any coin. In addition, Noghai is a Mongol word for ‘dog’, and the animal on the coin could indeed be a dog, placed on the coin as an additional tribute to Noghai by Tola Buqa as gratitude for raising him to power. It should be noted that there are two significant variants for this issue, one with the tail curving upwards and one with it curving downwards, as is this one. The latter, which appears to be the less rare of the two, has two subvarieties, one with a six-pointed star above the tail (as is this one) and one with a pellet. Another even rarer variety has the animal walking right." [James Farr] Album 2022.2; Jena I ---; Лебедев ---; Федоров-Давыдов ---; Zeno 10620, 32259, 62443, 75794