Egypt AH 1277(4) 10 qirsh
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The coin shown is a silver ten qirsh from the reign of Sultan Abdul Aziz. It was struck at the Cairo Mint. The obverse bears the toughra, or signature, of the sultan. Below the toughra is the denomination (qirsh), abbreviated as 'sh', with the number 10 above. The reverse carries the ascension date and the text minted in Misr (Misr is Arabic for Egypt). The date is written as AH 1277 year 4, which translates to about 1863 AD. Uslu[1] lists this issue as very rare. An extremely rare variety exists which shows a flower to the right of the toughra. The second specimen was lot 31856 in Heritage sale 3076 (Long Beach, CA, September 2019), where it sold for $3,120. The catalog description[2] noted, "Ottoman Empire. Abdul Aziz Proof 10 Qirsh AH 1277 Year 4 (1863/4) PR65 NGC, Paris mint. Variety without flower to right of toughra. In 1863 the Paris mint struck a series of silver and gold versions of new circulation types for Ottoman Egypt without the flower to the right of the toughra. Proof strikings of these are all extremely rare. This is notably the only representative of the type to have been certified by NGC and, to our knowledge, to have sold on public auction in at least two decades. Flashy in the fields, graced by speckled argent and variegated metallic tones, which are evenly dispersed throughout the open expanses, set against bold rims and devices."
Recorded mintage: 3,803,000.
Specification: 12.5 g, 29 mm diameter, 0.833 fine silver.
Catalog reference: KM 257.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Uslu, Kaan, Beyazit, M. Fatih, and Kara, Tuncay, Ottoman Empire Coins, Istanbul: Mas Matbaacilik A.S., 2007.
- [2]Bierrenbach, Cristiano and Warren Tucker, Heritage World and Ancient Coins Auction 3076, featuring the Allen Moretti Swiss Collection and the James Mossman Collection of Canadian Coinage, Dallas, TX: Heritage Auction Galleries, 2019.
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