Trade Along the Great Volga Road between the Bulgarian State and the Golden Horde in the XIV Century

The subject of this article is a gold coin, unique for the Bulgarian lands, unearthed during the excavations of the Kokalyane Urvich Fortress near Sofia. It was minted by order of the Indian Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq, who reigned in Delhi between 1325 and 1351. On one of the sides inscribed are panegyrics to the Abbasid Caliph Al-Hakim II in Cairo, the nominal leader of all Muslims in the world at the time. The coin has a very high carat and is unusually heavy for our latitudes - 11.05 g. The gold coins of this ruler are called dinars, tanka or muhra and are valued as the main means of payment. The Urvich coin appears to be the westernmost find of an Indian gold coin known to date. These monuments spread largely through the Golden Horde state with which Bulgaria had ties for decades. It is interesting to try and work out the value of the gold Indian dinar of the Delhi Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq on the Bulgarian market of the time. According to its gold content, it could have been exchanged for more than 6 contemporary Byzantine hyperpyra, which makes about 120-130 silver aspers of the first two coinages of Tsar Ivan Alexander Assen. It is obvious that the find from Urvich demonstrates the economic relationships of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom with the countries of Asia.