Turkey AH 1143 kurush KM-210
This specimen was lot 280 in Steve Album Auction 51 (Santa Rosa, CA, January 2025), where it sold for $2,040. The catalog description[1] noted, "TURKEY: Mahmud I, 1730-1754, AR kurus, Kostantiniye, AH1143, initial VIII, nice luster, rotated reverse, an exceptional example! PCGS graded MS64. Finest graded at PCGS." During Mahmud's reign, mint officals did not use regnal years, so the coinage can only be dated to the accession year, AH 1143. The kuruş was forty paras. The regime's financial incompetence meant that the kuruş was never stable; it would shrink to the size of a half dime by 1839. This type is known with initials viii and xv. The main difference btween this issue and the very similar KM 211 is the weight; KM 210 being over 24 g, KM 211 being less. Since this can't be told from auction photos, one must look at the details of the florals surrounding the rosette to the right of the toughra.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specifications: silver, 24.75-26.7 g.
Catalog reference: Dav-1806, KM-210, Dav-323A.
- Michael, Thomas, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800, 7th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2016.
- Davenport, John S., European Crowns, 1700-1800, 2nd Ed. London: Spink & Son, 1964.
- [1]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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