Turkey AH 1223(4) kurush
This specimen was lot 2026 in Steve Album Auction 51 (Santa Rosa, CA, January 2025), where it sold for $360. The catalog description[1] noted, "TURKEY: Mahmud II, 1808-1839, AR kurush, Kostantiniye, AH1223 year 4, fantastic brilliant luster, PCGS graded MS64." Ottoman coins were dated using regnal years; the reverse bears the date AH 1223 (= 1808 A.D.) while the obverse bears the regnal year 4 (= 1811 A.D.). The Hejira calendar uses a lunar year instead of a solar year, so its starting date moves from year to year. This type was issued during years 3-13. The continuous debasement occurring during this reign meant that most coin types were shortlived and the distinctions between them often arbitrary. After the reform of 1839, the kuruş was stabilized as a coin the size of a half dime.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specifications: 9.6 g, 0.465 fine silver.
Catalog reference: KM-560.
- Michael, Thomas, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800, 7th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2016.
- [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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