I found this coin among assorted junk in our attic and cannot for the life of me figure out what or where it is from. It was pretty tarnished and hard to see so instead of taking a picture of it I created a rubbing from it which I posted below. I am hoping someone here may be able to tell me. Thanks in advance Adam
Yes,it is from Ottoman Turkey.It is dated AH1255 on the reverse, which is the accessional date.The regnal year is located in the Toughra.In this case,it is Year 19,so you add 19 - 1 = 18 to AH1255.The coin in question is a 4 Para. Aidan.
I looked up what you said on Ebay and indeed I found some coins with similar patterns on them so you were right and thanks a bunch. At least now I have something to go on. Adam
Thanks Aidan Wow, can't believe how fast you guys respond Any idea what it might be worth and roughly how old it is. I think you tried to explain it with regnal year but I'm not sure I follow.
Adam N,as I am a collector of British Commonwealth coinage,I can read the true Arabic numerals,which are present on Hyderabadi & Bahawalpuri coinage.You can find an Islamic date converter in another section of the board. Aidan.
to CoinTalk Adam. If I read it correctly, your last question was not about how to read the dates, but what they mean. The Islamic calendar is a twelve-month lunar calendar with no "leap month" adjustments, so it's dates slide through the western calendar with its 11-day longer solar year. "AH" stands for "After Hejira", referring to Mohammed's flight from Mecca in 622 AD. 1273AH began on September 1, 1856, and ended on August 22, 1857. Like those of many Ottoman Turkish rulers, the coins of Abdul Mejid show both the AH date of his accession to the throne (AH1255/1839-40) and the year of his reign in which it was actually struck (19, resulting in the AH1273 issue date calculated by Aidan). With all due deference to Aidan's expertise, I think the poor condition of your coin has led him astray on the denomination. It appears to me that it is a 40 para (KM#670 in the Krause & Mishler Standard Catalog of World Coins 19th Century). The 4 (resembling a W standing on end) clearly shows on your rubbing, but the small diamond-shaped zero to its right (the bottom of your picture) is not as clear. Krause does not list any 4 para coins in the 3rd Ed. of the 19th Century volume. If I'm right, your coin is a 37mm wide copper coin (roughly the size of a U.S. silver dollar), weighing 20g or less. Krause reports a mintage of 111.3-million for that year, with values starting at $1.25 for a VG grade. From your description, I would expect to find yours in a dealer's "junk coin" bowl for a maximum of 10-25¢.
Aidan & Roy,you guys are amazing.Looks like a bunch of squiggles to me.I'll be the first to admit that coins from the Middle East,Asia and most of the Balkans are WAY out of my realm,although I own a few.
