Ottoman Coin Era dates question

Discussion in 'World Coins' started by The Eidolon, Jul 4, 2019.

  1. The Eidolon

    The Eidolon Well-Known Member

    Picked up this coin from a junk bin recently. It's all Arabic, but I've been trying to improve my identification skills. My best guess is it's an Egyptian bronze 1/20th Qirsh. The reverse I believe has 1293, which I assume the starting year of the era, which I think is about 1876. The front has 12, so I guess it's the 12th year of the Reign of Abdul Hamid II. How do the dates work? Do they count up from year 1, so the date would be 1876 + 12 - 1 = 1887? I think Egypt fell out of Ottoman control into British occupation in 1882, so if that is so, I guess they kept issuing coins in the name of the Sultan even after Egypt left the Ottoman control. Any insights would be most welcome! 1:20 Qirsh y12 .jpeg
     
    tibor likes this.
  2. Avatar

    Guest User Guest



    to hide this ad.
  3. Hiddendragon

    Hiddendragon World coin collector

    The year is 1886 but I can't find your coin anywhere. I checked Egypt, Turkey and Hyderabad. I don't know where else to look.
     
    tibor likes this.
  4. Milesofwho

    Milesofwho Omnivorous collector

    To semi-quote Wikipedia, Egypt was still technically Ottoman until November 5, 1914. They were declared a British protectorate on that date in a reaction to the Ottoman Empire joining the Central Powers. Thus, Ottoman coinage was issued until then. Also, Numista lists your coin here.
     
    tibor and The Eidolon like this.
  5. The Eidolon

    The Eidolon Well-Known Member

    Here's a cleaner looking one on Numista: https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces10923.html
    (Edit: just realized the previous poster already provided a the same link!)
    It's in my (very obsolete) Krause guide under Egypt as a 1/20 Qirsh of Abdul Hamid II.

    I realized now that my approximation for the date is probably a bit off. If the starting year of the reign is year 1 = AH1293 = AD1876, I can't just add the regnal year minus 1 as the Hijri year is about 3% shorter than the Gregorian year. So depending on the how the months work out I guess the 12th year could be 10-11 years later or 1886-1887. I wonder if there's a convenient converter anywhere to get AH or AD years from Ottoman regnal years.
     
    Last edited: Jul 4, 2019
    tibor and Milesofwho like this.
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page