Stephen Album Rare Coins Auction 52 15-18 May 2025 Lot 494 Starting price: 300 USD
GIRAY KHANS: Shahin Giray, 1777-1783, AE kopeck (12.28g), Baghcha-Saray, AH1191 year 7, A-2119, 3rd series, oblique reeded edge; fantastic example of this extremely rare date, perhaps the finest known, choice XF, RRR. The Giray Khans were the rulers of the Crimean Khanate from 1441 to 1783. The Khanate was also known by following names; Qirim Hanligi, Qirim Yurtu, Great Horde, Desht-i Kipchak, and in old European historiography and geography as Little Tartary or Tartaria Minor. This Crimean Tatar state was the longest-lived of the Turkic khanates that succeeded the empire of the Golden Horde. Established by Haci I Giray in 1441, it was regarded as the direct heir to the Golden Horde and to Desht-i-Kipchak. The Giray Khanate was annexed by Catherine the Great of Russia. On 8 April 1783, in violation of the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca, Catherine II intervened in the civil war, de facto annexing the whole Crimean Peninsula as the Taurida Governorate.