Posted 12/31/2014 5:47 pm
The squiggly thing is called a "toughra", not a "kalima". And while the toughra was used on some non-Ottoman coinages, this one is Ottoman. I can just read an Arabic "03" beneath the mint-name, which narrows this coin down to the reign of a Sultan that came to power in a year ending in "03". Selim III (AH 1203, AD 1789) is the best fit. The mint-name is "Islambul", the official name for Istanbul/Constantinople at the time.
I think the regnal year, at the top of the inscriptions in the bottom pic, is "5", which would date the coin to AD 1793. But I can't tell you what denomination it is without an indication of size or weight, since all the Ottoman silver coins of this period looked pretty much the same.
I think the regnal year, at the top of the inscriptions in the bottom pic, is "5", which would date the coin to AD 1793. But I can't tell you what denomination it is without an indication of size or weight, since all the Ottoman silver coins of this period looked pretty much the same.
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
