Turkey 1960 500 kurush
This specimen was lot 76480 in Stack's Bowers Collectors Choice Online Auction (Costa Mesa, CA, February 2025), where it sold for $3,600. The catalog description[1] noted, "TURKEY. 500 Kurush, 1960. Istanbul Mint. NGC MS-63. Mintage: AGW: "Monnaie de Luxe" type. A RARE date hailing from a miniscule mintage, this Choice piece offers watery luster and smooth, even surfaces." This monnaie de luze is wider and thinner than the conventional 500 kurush (Fr-203) and more explicitly intended for use in jewelry, where many specimens are found. Introduced in 1942, along with gold 25, 50, 100 and 250 kurush, it is still in production in small numbers.
Recorded mintage: 208.
Specification: 35.08 g, 0.917 fine gold, 1.0342 troy oz AGW.
Catalog reference: Fr-208 (formerly Fr-94); KM-874.
- Friedberg, Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg, Gold Coins of the World, From Ancient Times to the Present, 9th ed., Clifton, NJ: Coin and Currency Institute, 2017.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, February 2025 World Collectors Choice Online Auction - Ancients, World Coins & World Paper Money, David B. Simpson Medals & World Coins Part 1, Selections from the Richard Margolis Collection, and Selections from the L. E. Bruun Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2025.
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