Sigla on Silver Juchid Coins of the 14th – 15th Centuries

The paper deals with enigmatic graphic symbols on Juchid silver coins of the 14th–15th centuries. It has been proposed to call such sign “siglum” (in the plural “sigla”). They differ in their appearance and essence from tamgas and decorations of the coin field (“knots of happiness”), which сan be seen quite often on dangs. Sigla, by their appearance, cannot be attributed to either tamgas or “ornamentum monetale”. Some numismatists use such a category as differents. The topic of differents is poorly studied in numismatic literature. Sigla and these differents are not identical. Five graphic elements were highlighted on Juchid silver coins of the 1360s – 1490s of khans Abdullah, Muhammad, Tokhtamysh, Beg-Sufi, and Murtadha, they were classified as sigla. Each siglum is exclusive and occurs only once on coins struck at a specific mint in a specific period. This is one of the differences between the Golden Horde sigla and the so-called Juchid differents and sigla on Byzantine coins, which are regularly present on issues of a particular mint in a quite large variety and which were placed on coins at the initiative of the mint authorities. It is known that there was an “open” method of producing silver coins from metal brought on khan’s mints by private individuals in the Golden Horde in the 14th century. Taking into account the extreme episodic appearance of sigla on dangs, it can be assumed that they were carved on dies with the consent of the administration at the request of the customer of the coin production and contain information about him. Sigla did not influence the officially established design of coins and occupied a modest place as a decoration of coin field, and their appearance on coins is exclusive and not widespread.