OTTOMAN COINS (c. late 13th-20th century)

 

From the time the House of Osman, a frontier beylik of the Seljuk Sultanate, declared their independence in the late 13th early 14th century and until the foundation of the Republic of Turkey, the Ottoman Empire struck coins from gold, silver and copper continuously for about six centuries. The Ottomans had minted and used coins since the foundation of their state. However, gold coins were not minted until the reign of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, when the Ottomans used the Venetian gold ducat in trade. Beginning with the reign of Mehmed the Conqueror, the Ottoman state began to issue gold coins, minted in Kostantiniyye (Istanbul), the new capital of the empire. The old Venetian ducats were- stamped with the inscription "Shah", and thus their commercial validity continued. From the initial stage of Ottoman coinage, the iconoclastic principle introduced by Umayyad Ruler Caliph Abd al-malik ibn Marwan to Islamic coinage was observed. No figurative depictions were used on the obverse or the reverse of Ottoman coins, which only featured inscriptions indicating issue date, location of mint, prayer verses and the name and titles of the sultan.


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