Turkey AH1293(1) 20 para
The first specimen was lot 488 in Stephen Album sale 30 (Santa Rosa, CA, January 2018), where it sold for $152.75. The catalog description[1] noted, "TURKEY: Abdulhamid II, 1876-1909, AR 20 para, Kostantiniye, AH1293 year 1, Unc, R." The second specimen was lot 2035 in Steve Album Auction 51 (Santa Rosa, CA, January 2025), where it sold for $192. The catalog description[2] noted, "TURKEY: Abdul Hamid II, 1876-1909, AR 20 para, Kostantiniye, AH1293 year 1, lovely light iridescent toning, PCGS graded MS63." The previous regimes had experimented with issuing a copper twenty para (Abdul Mejid even issued a copper forty para) but the coin must have been disliked as the few twenty paras that were minted during Abdul Hamid's reign were silver. The two kuruş was roughly the size of a dime; this denomination was about the size of a 2½¢ piece and must have been a nuisance. This type was struck year 1 and 4 and is very scarce; A later type (KM 734) struck year 8 is not so scarce.
Recorded mintage: 110,000.
Specifications: 0.60 g, .830 fine silver.
Catalog reference: KM-717.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Album, Stephen, Joseph Lang, Paul Montz, Michael Barry and Norman Douglas Nicol, Auction 30, featuring the George Anderson Collection of Tibetan Coins, the Dr. John W. Lund Collection of Swedish Coins and the Mike Edwards Collection, Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2018.
- [2]Album, Stephen, Joseph Lang, Paul Montz, Michael Barry and Norman Douglas Nicol, Auction 51, featuring the Howard Daniel III Collection of Asian Coins, the Almer H. Orr III Collection of World Coins and the Joe Sedillot Collection of German Coins, Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2024.
- Uslu, Kaan, Beyazit, M. Fatih, and Kara, Tuncay, Ottoman Empire Coins, Istanbul: Mas Matbaacilik A.S., 2007.
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