Три сребърни монети от голям номинал на султан Махмуд II, от фонда на НИМ – София

Three silver coins of large denomination of the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II from the Sofia NMH depot

Abstract

Three Turkish silver coins of a large denomination are presented – 5 Groschen each issued by the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II (1808 – 1839). They are part of a certain coin hoard of a provenance unknown. The coins are housed in the main Numismatic depot of the National Museum of History in Sofia.
Minting silver coins of such a large denomination reflected the strong devaluation of the Turkish Grosch growing in ever-increasing progression during the last decades of the 18th – the opening decades of the 19th c. This devaluation was undoubtedly due to the long years of kurdjali unrest and Janissaries’ anarchy during this period, destructive to the economy and finances of the Ottoman Empire. In addition to the issue of silver coins of a large denomination, this inflationary process was also manifested in the progressive deterioration of the silver alloy from which they were struck. The three coins here discussed contain between 30 – 50% silver as the rest of the metal alloy they were struck of is copper.