Silver Saturday

[gweidion]

Piastres. Isn't that the currency in Egypt?

[Triggersmob]

Yes, it is indeed a subunit of the Egyptian currency, as well as quite a few other countries.
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/index.php?r=piastres&st=1-2&cat=y&im1=&im2=&ru=&ie=&ca=3&no=&v=&a=&dg=&i=&b=&m=&f=&t=&t2=&w=&mt=&u=&g=&c=&wi=&sw=

[Tanecoins]

Piastres also know as Ghirsh, qirsh and kurus, are well known sub unit of currency throughout the Middle East. Known as Kurus in Turkey, Qirsh in Arabic and Piastres in French were used in the Ottoman Empire, which included at one stage all of the Middle east west of Iraq. In 1850 Turkey, Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria all used a Piastres currency.

Today its still part of Egyptian, Sudanese, Lebanese, Syrian and Turkish currencies, although inflation is so bad, that subunits of their mostly Lira based currencies are seldom used or seen.

Cyprus used it too, as it was under Ottoman control for years and was used to it, plus the north was of Turkish Muslim culture, but in 1955, it changed to mils, which was a more British Mediterranean feel and they change to cents in 1974.

[gweidion]

Thanks Tane, I was wondering why Cyprus would have had them. Blame the Ottomans.

[Tanecoins]

They are nice to rest your feet on though!

Nothing wrong with a nice Ottoman. Its 12.02 am on Saturday August 30th in NZ, so here's this week's coin

[attachment=4194] - click to enlarge, date on right under the Toughra and has Turkish Arabic numerals - the backwards 3 is actually a 4.

Its a Ottoman Piastre (Kurus) of Sultan Mahmud I (1730 - 1754). The coin is 37mm in size and weighs 16 grams. I suppose the nitpicky would say its not silver as its only 46% silver and thus counts as "billon" but its neer silver in my opinion. The coins have no regnal date and are frozen at AH 1143 (AD 1731).

Its also very old and a jaded odalesque of a Ali Baba type era. I think huge turbans, dancing girls with coins on their skirts, fat sultans inhaling hookah pipes on an oversized cushion in a palace with Islamic arches and minarets everywhere with camels and date palms all around.

[Triggersmob]

This coin arrived from Tane during the week, which completed my pre-decimal NZ coin set,
apart form the 1956 penny, without shoulder strap (and a couple of mules). Thanks very much Tane. 
1946 florin - Kiwi with flat back.

[Triggersmob]

Nice old Ottoman coin Tane. I only have one silver Ottoman coin, a 1909 2 kurus.
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces15565.html

[Tanecoins]

Nice, the other side of the coin will have the regnal year on it, which was always a single digit for Mehmed V Reshad pieces, as he died in 1918, in the 9th year of his reign. His successor Mehmed VI Vaireddin was a puppet who was overthrown in 1922, after 1918 the real power in Turkey was Mustafa Kemal, before he abolished the sultanate in 1923 and declared the Republic and calling himself Kemal Ataturk (Father of the Turks).

I will take your 2 Kurus and raise you to 10.

[attachment=4195] [attachment=4196]
It's another Reshad and its year 2 (1910)

Same type but this is a chunky 10 Kurus.

Another weird fact was the Kurus was the Piastre with Egyptian Ottoman pieces and the Egyptian coins were larger and heavier.

[Triggersmob]

Another very nice coin Tane. Thanks for the info on Ataturk, I didn't know that it meant Father of the Turks. .

[Tanecoins]

Yes and the Turkish modern state was all him, he was also the Turkish general who beat us at Gallipoli.
In Turkiye today, insulting Ataturk can end you up in jail. The coins and notes all bear his portrait, even though he died in 1938.

However Erdogan, is a bit less crazy about him as Erdogan has Islamist tendencies and Ataturk was very Western and secular focus, seeing Islam as a religion, not the way to live life.

[Tanecoins]

Okay you silver hounds - lets get silvery again
 I bought 10 of these bad boys to add to my stack, 10 silver Britannias dated 2025.
The coins contain an ounce each of that valuable mineral silver.

[attachment=4208] [attachment=4209]

These creamy coins include a latent device at 8 o'clock and stunning detail. I keep one on me and the other 9 sit in a tube in my vault.

Next week I will show my silver eagles.

[Triggersmob]

Very nice Tane. That's the sort of coin Ken-a likes to collect.

[Tanecoins]

Do you collect Britannia's or any other bullion coin. I know they are not strictly "currency coins", but they have awesome eye appeal and they can garnish a collection well.

[Triggersmob]

No, I don't collect any bullion coins. My interest mainly lies in circulation coins.
I had an American silver eagle once, but I gave it to Jeff, on this forum.

[gweidion]

I have a few silver pounds but the cost generally was dearer than the Canadian ones and the US eagles so I don't have all that many. I'd have more Australian silver ounces, Kooks, Koalas, and Roos. Tired to get a full year set of each. I think I gave up on a few of the more "overpriced" ones which would now be considered cheap. Plus I have a few of the Chinese pandas before they dropped the size from 1 ounce to 30 grams. They all look lovely.