Turkey AH 1336(2) 2 kurush
This specimen was lot 2077 in Stephen Album sale 50 (Santa Rosa, CA, September 2024), where it sold for $360. The catalog description[1] noted, "TURKEY: Muhammad VI, 1918-1923, AR 2 kurush, AH1336 year 2, blotchy tone, very rare key date and very rare grade, mintage of only 2,000 pieces, XF-AU, RR." This specimen is from a series struck in Istanbul during the reign of Sultan Muhammed VI (r. 1918-23), the last Ottoman sultan. 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 2 (= 1918 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 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: 3,000.
Specification: 2.40 g, 0.830 fine silver.
Catalog reference: KM-815, Y-59.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- 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 Norman Douglas Nicol, Auction 50, featuring selections from the Dr. Robert A. Rosenfeld Collection, the Hakim Hamidi Collection, the Almer H. Orr III Collection and the Solar Collection, Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2024.
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