Tripoli AH 1223(7) 20 para KM-137
This specimen was lot 475 in Steve Album Auction 54 (Santa Rosa, CA, January 2026), where it sold for $840. The catalog description[1] noted, "TRIPOLI: Mahmud II, 1808-1839, BI 20 para, Tarabulus Gharb, AH1223 year 7, slight weakness in strike, otherwise very attractive, with much of the original silver-wash, XF, RRR, ex Ken Bovenkamp Collection, ex SARC Auction 14 Lot 464, ex SARC Auction 22 Lot 454. This piece has a star rather than a sprig at the upper left of the obverse, thus as KM-137 rather than KM-136, but KM-137 and its equivalent, UBK-119.02, are both listed only for year 8. The listing of year 7 for KM-136 is also correct, as is clear in the KM photo. This variety is probably unpublished, or at least never recorded in the principal catalogs." This example is also the plate specimen in Numista. Theoretically, forty paras = one piastre, but the constant debasements threw the ratio into confusion. In the eighteenth century, Tripoli, now part of Libya, was one of the Barbary States preying on commerce plying the Mediterranean. The bey of Tripoli and the United States fought a war in 1801-05 when the US refused the customary tribute.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 6.65-6.87 g, billon, 31 mm diameter, this specimen 6.87 g.
Catalog reference: KM-137, UBK-119.02.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- Uslu, Kaan, Beyazit, M. Fatih, and Kara, Tuncay, Ottoman Empire Coins 1687-1839 (AH 1099-1255), Istanbul: Anka Matbaacilik, 2010.
- [1]Album, Stephen, Joseph Lang, Paul Montz, Michael Barry and Hanbing Feng, Auction 54, featuring selections from the Kenneth A. Bovenkamp Collection of Ottoman Coins, Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2025.
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