In the images below is an Islamic counter-marked coin. It appears to be silver and seems to my eye to be of Ottoman origin. The counter-marks are...an unknown character, what appears to be a cat or other animal and the Arabic numeral one(?). The year AH 1223 and number 10 appear to be present. Can any member attribute this item? All comments welcome. Weight: 0.64 grams. Diameter: 16 mm.
Undoubtedly Ottoman, but not one of the common Turkish mints i think. The mint name (lower half top photo) seems to start with "Abu-" but the second half is not clear to me.
I would read the second half of the mint as SERT. The only city I can think of with that name is Sirte in Libya (birthplace of Moammar Qaddafi). I'm not aware of a mint name of Abu Sirte. The denomination is indicated as 10 Qirsh. The accession year is 1223 and Mahmud II was in power for 32 years; the year could start with a "2" or "3" and end with a "1" or "6"; for example, 31. The inscription, especially the toughra, is very crude and simple and indicates an imitation. At first, I considered it light but for a silver coin of that small diameter, it could weigh only 0.64 g. My first guess is that the item is an imitation made in Egypt, in large part from the existence of the counter stamps. The Egyptians did use the cat as a mark on their imitation pieces. As such it indeed may be silver with the first stamp reading "60" and indicating 60% silver. The last stamp would be a code indicating the date of striking. The hole would enable it to be worn as a piece of jewelry.
I would add that if the Egyptian provenance is correct, it is still a very collectible item as a counter stamp piece.
Many thanks to Siberian Man, THCoins and Robidoux Pass for their comments concerning this piece. I feel sure they are on the right track. I have a question...if Robidoux Pass is correct, in what time period is this imitation produced? For example...is this a contemporary imitation of the time AH 1223 or is this a recently made item. Again, many thanks for all your input. SRSNUM
