Howdy jordancoins - Welcome to the Forum !! I moved your post to this section - you'll likely get more repsonse here
Well, i have something very close to it. I believe what you have there is a 5 para from Turkey. I have a ten, but the character that appears like an O directly below the star is the arabic 5. The year appears as AH 1293.
It could have been struck anywhere from 1900 to 1904, they all appear with the AH date of 1293 for some reason - and I don't know how to tell the difference between them. By the way, I checked and the KM # is 743 for your coin.
The exact year of issue can be determined by the regnal year on the other side. The regnal year is the then current year of the monarch's reign. On this coin of Abdul Hamid II it would be any year from 25 to 30 (small Arabic numbers located near the bottom center of the other side). That would put the Christian dates at roughly (since most Muslims use a lunar calendar) at 1901-1906. The coin is also low grade silver (10%) and contains .0032 of an ounce of the metal. You might also try a library for a copy of the Standard Catalog of World Coins for pictures, values and lots more interesting info.
