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Ottoman coins are somewhat harder to identify because they use a different numeral system, a different set of letters, and a different type of calendar (Islamic instead of Gregorian).
I believe the easiest way to learn is from examples... so we will take 2 random coins from the site to decipher them.
Useful tools
We need a converter from the Islamic year (Anno Hegirae, used by most Arab countries) to the Gregorian year (Anno Domini).
List of Ottoman sultans
First coin to identify
Second coin to identify
Ottoman coin identification guide
Written by: Trîmbițaș Sorin.Ottoman coins are somewhat harder to identify because they use a different numeral system, a different set of letters, and a different type of calendar (Islamic instead of Gregorian).
I believe the easiest way to learn is from examples... so we will take 2 random coins from the site to decipher them.
Useful tools
We need a converter from the Islamic year (Anno Hegirae, used by most Arab countries) to the Gregorian year (Anno Domini).
Click on the symbols below
List of Ottoman sultans
First coin to identify
Follow these steps:
- Look at the table in useful tools and search for groups of 3 or 4 digits. We will notice "١٢٥٥":
-
In the calculator from useful tools, enter the year identified on the coin, click the "Convert" button and we will see that the coin is from the Gregorian year (AD) 1839. However, on Ottoman coins the year inscribed is the year the sultan came to power, so we look on the other side of the coin for the "regnal year"... in our case we can see it is year "٧" (7) of reign:
so the actual year of the coin is 1845 (1839, 1840, 1841, 1842, 1843, 1844, 1845 => 7 years)
- Using the list of sultans above, we can see that the coin was minted by Abdul-Mejid I (1839-1861).
Second coin to identify
Follow the same steps as for the first coin:
- Look at the table in useful tools and search for groups of 3 or 4 digits. We will notice "١٣٢٧":
-
In the calculator from useful tools, enter the year identified on the coin, click the "Convert" button and we will see that the coin is from the Gregorian year (AD) 1909. However, on Ottoman coins the year inscribed is the year the sultan came to power, so we look on the other side of the coin for the "regnal year"... in our case we can see it is year "٤" (4) of reign:
so the actual year of the coin is 1912 (1909, 1910, 1911, 1912 => 4 years)
-
Using the list of sultans above, we can see that the coin was minted by Mehmed V (1909-1918).
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Also on this coin, we can notice the large digit group "٤٠" which tells us the coin was worth 40 units:
