Turkey AH 1336(1) 2 kurush
This specimen was lot 2055 in Steve Album Auction 51 (Santa Rosa, CA, January 2025), where it sold for $1,560. The catalog description[1] noted, "TURKEY: Mehmet VI, 1918-1922, AR 2 kurush, Kostantiniye, AH1336 year 1, an attractive mint-state example of this scarce type, PCGS graded MS63." This denomination was introduced during the rule of Sultan Abdul Mejid (r. 1839-61). Ottoman coins were dated using regnal years; the reverse bears the date AH 1336 (= 1918 A.D.) while the obverse bears the regnal year 1 (= 1918 A.D.). Altho AH 1336 started in AD 1917, Mehmed did not attain the throne until July 1918. 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 AH 1336-37 (1917-18) and is the last of the denomination. At the end of World War One, the sultan was a puppet of Ataturk and his friends, soon to be deposed.
Recorded mintage: 25,000.
Specifications: 2.40 g, 0.830 fine silver.
Catalog reference: KM-815.
- 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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