Sword in a circle (Tamgha of Qaidu), decoration and mint-name around, date and mint in the outer margin (unreadable) / Kalima in crude arabic. 21mm, 1.90 grams. Mint of Taraz.

Kaidu or Qaidu, (1230 - 1301) was the leader of the House of Ogedei and the de facto khan of the Chagatai Khanate. Kaidu opposed the Great Khan Kublai until his death in 1301. Kaidu was the son of Kashin a grandson of Ögedei Khan and a great-grandson of Genghis Khan and Borte. He ruled part of Eastern Turkestan (modern Xinjiang) and Central Asia during the 13th century, and actively opposed his uncle, Kublai Khan, who established the Yuan Dynasty in China. Kaidu controlled most of Central Asia and, for a time, much of present-day Mongolia, including Karakorum, the former capital of the Mongol Empire. Since about 1263, when Kublai Khan was warring with his own brother Ariq Boke, who was proclaimed Great Khan at Karakorum, Kaidu began to have major conflicts with Kublai and his ally, the Ilkhanate. By 1269 he had obtained support from the Chagatai Khanate and the Golden Horde, and held an assembly to oppose Kublai and the Ilkhanate . Kaidu had waged almost continuous warfare for more than 30 years against Kublai and his successor Temür, though he eventually fell in 1301, when he was defeated and wounded during a battle near Karakorum and died shortly afterwards.