The numismatic relics fund of the museum-reserve contains 365 copies of silver tangas of the Bukhara Emirate, covering the period from 1182/1768-1769 to the complete transition to Soviet rule. The tangas are minted from 10/9 silver. Size: 13-17 mm. The average weight is 3,100 g.
These tangas are minted from silver of 800-900 samples, have smaller dimensions (13-17 mm.) than the tangas of the previous period, the plate is thick (2-3 mm.). As a rule, due to the fact that the size of the tangs of the Bukhara Emirate is smaller than the stamps intended for their impact, the relief traces do not completely fall into the circle of coins. In this regard, it is problematic to carry out a complete reconstruction of the relief traces that were applied to the surface of the tangs of that period.
The museum contains coins from the reign of the third ruler of the Mangit dynasty, Shah Murad, until 1901, when Bukhara became part of the Russian Empire and independent coinage was banned.
During the study of the tangs, two different years were shown on both surfaces of the coins. It usually consists of two adjacent digits of the year.
The Emirate of Bukhara was founded by ruler Mohammed Rahim of the Mangit tribe in 1756. He ascended the Khan’s throne in 1756 with the consent of representatives of the ruling class and the clergy. From this period in history, the history of the ruling Mangit dynasty began.
Under the Manghits in the Emirate of Bukhara, as under the ruling dynasties before him, money minted from gold (tilla, ashrafi), silver (tanga) and copper (fels-fuls) was in trade. Copper money is also commonly known as «pool», «copper pool» or «black pool».
Only the emir had the right to mint and issue money. Since money coinage is one of the most important events in the emirate, the mint was definitely located only inside the emir’s castle. This place, located in a part of the emir’s palace, was called «Karkhana», «Sikkakhana» or «Zarbhana».
A. Sukhareva, who studied the palaces of the emirs of Bukhara, notes that at that time coinage of money was considered as part of the jewelry business, and the workshop inside the palace was divided into two parts. The money was minted in the so-called «Karkhanoy tanga». The mint temporarily suspended its work after minting a certain amount of money. They did not operate continuously throughout the year, like jewelry workshops working with precious metals such as gold or silver. According to D. A. Zhukovsky’s records, the mint operated only twice a year.
Under the first rulers of the Mangits, money differed from the money of the ruling dynasty before them, the Janids, only by the names of the rulers, and the sample values and weights remained the same, without any changes. It was only in the first year that Shah Murad, the 3rd ruler of the Mangit dynasty (1200/1784-1785), came to power that monetary reform was implemented, which introduced a completely separate type of money from the monetary business and the type of money of previous periods.
According to the monetary reform carried out by Shah Murad, the tangas were minted from pure silver, weighing 0.7 microns (3.36 g), and all tangas previously minted in various samples were removed from circulation. Gold tills were also put into circulation in the same weight category, which allowed for further trading activities not only with tangs, but also with gold tills.
The main features of the money minted during the monetary reform carried out by Shah Murad, from those that were in circulation before the reform, were that in previous periods the name of the issuer was written with the epithet «marhum», and not the ruler’s own name, but the name of the creator of the dynastic power, Muhammad Rahim biya. In addition, instead of the religious notes engraved on the reverse of the coin, the name of the mint was replaced with the inscription «Zarb Bukhara-i Sharif».
If the annual figures of the coins minted earlier were printed only on one side of the coin, then after the reform the annual figures were printed on both sides of the coin.

Tolkyn Zholdasov, Junior Researcher