Posted 01/30/2012 12:27 am
Confirmed. These are definitely not coins, but jewellery imitation Ottoman coins - or "belly dancer coins", if you prefer. They are all made of brass or gilt-plated bronze.
For some of them, it's a little difficult to tell which way is up - the writing seems to travel in two different directions, at 90 degrees to each other. But the "obverse", for want of a better term, is the side that's in the left of your pictures, and in #2 and #4 it's right-way-up, and #1 and #3 are upside-down.
If you do a forum search for "imitation Ottoman", you'll find several pages of examples of coins with designs similar to or identical to yours, as well as others with different designs. The genuine coin that this particular design is copied from is a debased-silver coin from Ottoman Algeria; here is what a genuine coin looks like.
For some of them, it's a little difficult to tell which way is up - the writing seems to travel in two different directions, at 90 degrees to each other. But the "obverse", for want of a better term, is the side that's in the left of your pictures, and in #2 and #4 it's right-way-up, and #1 and #3 are upside-down.
If you do a forum search for "imitation Ottoman", you'll find several pages of examples of coins with designs similar to or identical to yours, as well as others with different designs. The genuine coin that this particular design is copied from is a debased-silver coin from Ottoman Algeria; here is what a genuine coin looks like.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
