1 Para - Mahmud II

Mahmud II came to power in 1808 through one of the bloodier successions in late Ottoman history — his predecessor Mustafa IV was deposed and executed, and Mahmud himself narrowly survived the janissary violence that killed his brother Selim III the same year. The coinage that followed reflects the empire's deepening fiscal strain: billon issues of this period were systematically debased, and at 0.465 fine this para sits near the lower end of what could still credibly pass as silver coinage. Mahmud would later abolish the janissaries entirely in 1826, but in 1808 he owed his throne to their intervention.