Turkey AH 1143 kurush KM-211
This specimen was lot 1805 in Steve Album Auction 52 (Santa Rosa, CA, May 2025), where it sold for $72. The catalog description[1] noted, "TURKEY: Mahmud I, 1730-1754, AR kurush, Kostantiniye, AH1143 (1730), initial #29, lightly lustrous, XF-AU." 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. The main difference btween this issue and the very similar KM 210 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 but scarce.
Specification: 23-24 g, silver, this specimen 23.74 g.
Catalog reference: KM-211.
- Davenport, John S., European Crowns, 1700-1800, 2nd Ed. London: Spink & Son, 1964.
- Michael, Thomas, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800, 7th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2016.
- Uslu, Kaan, Beyazit, M. Fatih, and Kara, Tuncay, Ottoman Empire Coins, Istanbul: Mas Matbaacilik A.S., 2007.
- [1]Album, Stephen, Joseph Lang, Paul Montz, Michael Barry and Dustin Wagner, Auction 52, featuring the Dr. Robert A. Rosenfeld Collection and the Almer H. Orr III Collection, Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2025.
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