On the Localisation of the Mint 'Gulistawān': More on Mint Organisation in the Late Ilkhānid Period

This article attempts to identify the mysterious mint of 'Gulistawān' appearing on the Ilkhānid-style silver coins struck in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. Although the mint cannot yet be archaeologically or topographically located, it is suggested here that the monastery of Gološtivank' should be located in the Vayoc' Dzor region of modern Armenia which is mentioned briefly in one medieval narration completed in the late 1290s AD might be the place where coins with the mint name Gulistawān were struck. An issue of coins in this area became possible thanks to the presence of silver mines. Such coins could have been struck under the control of the Armenian princely house of Orbelyans. It is also suggested that in this period mints were located in monastic complexes which served as tax collecting points for the local authorities. Gološtivank' seems to have been abandoned in the middle ages, possibly because of the bad smell coming from the nearby swamps.