Item number: A3554／A3555

Year: circa AD 1500-1910

Material: Copper

Size: 15.2 x 11.9 x 3.0 mm (A3554)／15.8 x 12.4 x 3.3 mm(A3555)

Weight: 4.55 g (A3554)／4.7 g (A3555)

Manufactured by: Samarkand Mint (A3554)

Provenance: Stephen Album Rare Coins 2025

These are copper puls that may have been issued by the Khanate of Bukhara or by regional authorities under its dominion.

The coins are irregular quadrilateral in shape. One specimen bears on the reverse the inscription “سمرقند” (Samarqand) (A3554), indicating that it was struck at Samarkand, while the obverse may record the year of minting. Another specimen shows on the obverse what appears to be the word “فلوس” (fulus) (A3555), designating the coin’s denomination, with the reverse possibly indicating the date of issue.

After the fragmentation of the Mongol Empire, Shiban, the fifth son of Jochi and grandson of Chinggis Khan, followed his elder brother Batu, the Khan of the Golden Horde, on campaigns into Europe, and was consequently granted dominion over the Blue Horde. By the mid-fourteenth century AD, the succession within the Golden Horde passed to the rulers of the White Horde, while the Blue Horde’s power weakened under pressure from both east and west. Part of the Shibanid lineage merged into the White Horde, and another branch migrated southwards. In AD 1396, after crushing the Chagatai Khanate in Transoxiana, Timur continued his advance against the Golden Horde, defeating Khan Toqtamish and precipitating the latter’s disintegration. Following Timur’s death in AD 1405 during his campaign toward China, the Timurid Empire likewise fell into decline. In AD 1423, Abu’l-Khair Khan, a descendant of Shiban and ruler of the Blue Horde, deposed Khadjī Muhammad of the Siberian branch of the Golden Horde and consolidated his control over the Siberian tribes. Beginning in AD 1430, Abu’l-Khair advanced into Transoxiana, seizing Khwarazm and other territories from the weakening Timurids, and established the Uzbek Khanate. The Shibanid branch that remained in Siberia alternated in power with local forces over the Siberian Khanate. Abu’l-Khair later perished during his wars with the Kazakh tribes, leading to the fragmentation of the Uzbek Khanate. In the early sixteenth century AD, his grandson Muhammad Shaybani, alternately serving under the Kazakh, Timurid, and Eastern Chagatai khanates, captured Samarkand and Bukhara, founding the Khanate of Bukhara. Meanwhile, another branch of the Shibanid family established the Khwarazm Khanate (later known as the Khanate of Khiva).

During the mid-sixteenth century AD, succession disputes erupted within the Khanate of Bukhara, as rival Shibanid sultans contended for power. In AD 1557, Sultan ‘Abdullah of Miankal, supported by Sufi circles, captured the city of Bukhara. In AD 1561, he installed his father, Iskandar, as khan, while he himself exercised de facto authority. To counter the shortage and outflow of coinage, ‘Abdullah undertook monetary reform centred on the Bukhara mint, adjusting the issue of gold coins and the fineness of silver dynamically according to economic needs. This stabilised the economy and laid the foundation for public works and for trade with the Mughal Empire, the Russian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire. ‘Abdullah subsequently defeated the Shibanid sultans of Tashkent, Balkh, and Samarkand, unifying the tribes under his rule. In AD 1583, he formally assumed the khanate, earning the title Buzurg Khan (“the Great Khan”) in recognition of his achievements. In AD 1584, taking advantage of military success, the Khanate of Bukhara began territorial expansion, first conquering Badakhshan, a region previously under the Mughal Empire, thereby ending the local rule of successive mirs. Around this time, the khanate adopted a gold coinage modelled on the Mughal mohur of Emperor Akbar, used as a smaller-denomination coin. In AD 1588 it captured Khorasan, and in AD 1594 seized Khwarazm. In AD 1598, war broke out with the Kazakh Khanate; before the campaign began, ‘Abdullah II died in Bukhara. The khanate subsequently descended into civil strife, bringing an end to the Shaybanid dynasty, and was succeeded by the Astrakhanid dynasty.

The Astrakhanid dynasty (also known as the Janid dynasty) was the second ruling house of the Khanate of Bukhara, reigning from approximately AD 1599 to 1753. Its founder, Jani Muhammad, claimed descent from Jochi, the eldest son of Chinggis Khan. The family had formerly belonged to the nobility of the Astrakhan Khanate and migrated southward into Central Asia following that state’s annexation by Russia. The Janids replaced the Shaybanids and established their capital at Bukhara, maintaining governance through traditional Islamic and Turko-Mongol institutions. In the early period, Bukhara remained one of the principal religious and commercial centres of Central Asia, where scholars, clerics, and merchants congregated, making it a prominent hub of Persianate culture and Islamic scholarship. From the mid-seventeenth century onwards, however, central authority weakened as local aristocrats and tribal leaders grew in influence. Internal strife among Uzbek tribes became frequent, while incursions from Kazakh and Khoqand forces further destabilised the realm. Although the Janid khans continued to hold nominal sovereignty, real power increasingly fell into the hands of militarised nobles and tribal commanders.

By the mid-eighteenth century AD, Muhammad Rahim, chief of the Manghit tribe and ataliq (regent) of Bukhara, usurped power and became the de facto ruler. In the late eighteenth century, the Manghit ataliq Shah Murad deposed the khan and declared himself amir, thereby founding the Manghit dynasty and transforming the Khanate of Bukhara into the Emirate of Bukhara. Henceforth, authority became increasingly centralised, and the traditional Mongol-feudal order evolved into a state organised around a Persian-Islamic bureaucratic system.

By the mid-nineteenth century AD, faced with the steady southward expansion of the Russian Empire into Central Asia, the Emirate of Bukhara suffered a series of military defeats and, in AD 1868, became a Russian protectorate. In AD 1917, amid the upheavals of the Russian October Revolution, the emirate briefly regained independence. However, in AD 1920, confronted by the advance of the Soviet Red Army, the last emir, Muhammad Alim Khan, fled into exile in neighbouring Afghanistan, marking the fall of the Emirate of Bukhara and the end of its long-standing Islamic polity.

物件編號: A3554／A3555

年代: circa 公元 1500-1910 年

材料: 銅

尺寸: 15.2 x 11.9 x 3.0 mm (A3554)／15.8 x 12.4 x 3.3 mm(A3555)

重量: 4.55 g (A3554)／4.7 g (A3555)

製造地: 撒馬爾罕

來源: 史蒂芬稀有錢幣專輯 2025

這是一些可能為布哈拉汗國或其地方勢力所鑄行的銅普爾。

銅幣呈不規則的四邊型，其中有背面幣銘「سمرقند」(Samarqand)者(A3554)，標示其出自撒馬爾罕；正面可能為鑄造年。有正面似標註「فلوس」者(A3555)，標勢幣名，背面則可能為鑄造年。

蒙古帝國分裂後，成吉思汗之孫，朮赤五子昔班，追隨其兄金帳汗拔都進軍歐洲，從而得封藍帳汗國。公元十四世紀中葉，金帳汗位由白帳汗王繼嗣，藍帳汗國的勢力收到東、西側的夾擠。因此昔班家族一部分向東融合白帳汗國，一部分向南遷移。公元1396年，在擊潰河中地區的察合台汗國後，帖木兒繼續向金帳汗國進軍，擊潰金帳可汗脫脫迷失，此後金帳汗國逐漸瓦解。公元1405年，帖木兒在進軍中國途中逝世，此後帖木兒帝國逐漸瓦解。公元1423年，藍帳可汗阿布海兒廢黜同為昔班家族，以西伯利亞為勢力核心的金帳汗哈只·穆罕默德，控制西伯利亞地區諸部族。公元1430年起，阿布海兒進軍河中地區，奪取當時帖木兒王朝控制漸弱的花剌子模等地區，建烏茲別克汗國。留守西伯利亞的昔班家族分支與當地勢力輪番統治西伯利亞汗國。後阿布海兒在對哈薩克部族的戰爭中逝世，烏茲別克汗國分裂瓦解。公元十六世紀初，阿布海兒之孫昔班尼輾轉附於哈薩克汗國、帖木兒帝國與東察合台汗國，攻取撒馬爾罕、布哈拉等地，建布哈拉汗國。花剌子模地區則由另一支昔班家族建花剌子模汗國(即希瓦汗國)。

公元十六世紀中，布哈拉汗國爆發繼承權爭，昔班家族各地蘇丹相互攻伐。公元1557年，米安卡爾(Miankal)地區的蘇丹阿卜杜拉，在蘇菲派支持下攻佔布哈拉城。公元1561年，擁立其父伊斯坎達爾為布哈拉汗，實際政務則由阿卜杜拉處理。為遏止貨幣短缺及外流，阿卜杜拉以布哈拉造幣廠為中心進行了貨幣改革，動態調整金幣鑄量與銀幣成色。經濟的平穩為公共建設以及與蒙兀兒帝國、俄羅斯帝國、鄂圖曼帝國之間的貿易創造了基礎。阿卜杜拉先後擊敗塔什干、巴爾赫、撒馬爾罕等地的昔班蘇丹，一統諸部族。公元1583年，阿卜杜拉即位為汗，由於其功績，亦稱為「布祖爾格汗」，即「大汗」。公元1584年，挾兵鋒之利，布哈拉汗國開始向外擴張，先是攻佔歸附蒙兀兒帝國的巴達赫尚，終結了當地歷代米爾的統治。大概也是這時起引入蒙兀兒阿克巴大帝「莫哈爾」形制的金幣，作為小面額的金幣。公元1588年攻佔呼羅珊。公元1594年攻佔花剌子模。公元1598年，哈薩克汗國向布哈拉汗國開戰，在與哈薩克交戰前，阿卜杜拉二世病逝於布哈拉。此後布哈拉汗國陷入內亂，昔班王朝終結，改由阿斯特拉罕王朝進行統治。

阿斯特拉罕王朝(Astrakhanids)，又稱賈尼德王朝(Janid dynasty或阿斯特拉罕王朝)是中亞布哈拉汗國的第二個統治王朝，約在公元1599年至1753年間掌權。其創建者為賈尼·穆罕默德(Jani Muhammad)，其後裔自稱出自成吉思汗之子朱赤的後代，原為阿斯特拉罕汗國的貴族，在該地被俄羅斯併吞後南遷至中亞。賈尼德王朝取代了昔班尼王朝，定都布哈拉，以傳統的伊斯蘭與突厥汗國統治模式維繫其政權。王朝初期，布哈拉仍為中亞的宗教與商貿中心之一。學者、神職人員與商人匯聚於此，使布哈拉成為波斯語文化與伊斯蘭學術的重要重鎮。然而，自17世紀中葉起，中央權威逐漸衰弱，各地貴族與部族首領勢力坐大。此時，烏茲別克部族間的內鬥頻仍，哈薩克與浩罕等地的侵擾亦使國勢動搖。賈尼德諸汗名義上仍為汗國主宰，但實際權力漸為有軍事實力的貴族與部落首領所奪。

至18世紀中葉，曼吉特部族首領穆罕默德·拉希姆，作為布哈拉汗國的阿塔利特，擅行廢立，成為實質統治者。18世紀末，阿塔利特，曼吉特部族的沙阿·穆拉德廢汗，自立為埃米爾，是為曼吉特王朝(Manghit)，建立布哈拉酋長國。此後，王權逐步集中，汗國傳統的蒙古式封建制度轉化為以波斯-伊斯蘭官僚體系為核心的政權。

公元19世紀中葉，面對沙俄對中亞地區的步步擴張。先是在公元1868年，布哈拉酋長國在多次兵敗後，淪為沙俄的保護國。公元1917年，利用沙俄十月革命的混亂之際，布哈拉酋長國短暫恢復獨立。但在公元1920年，面對蘇聯紅軍的攻勢，末代埃米爾：穆罕默德·阿利姆汗流亡至鄰國阿富汗，布哈拉酋長國滅亡。