Catalog
1 Sultani - Murad III
| Issuer | Ottoman Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 1575 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 3.45 g |
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| Obverse description | The entire field is occupied by a multi-line Arabic legend in bold, fluid script, densely arranged across the flan in the characteristic Ottoman hammered style. The inscription names the sultan as Murad bin Selim Khan with an invocatory formula, followed by the mint name Tunis and the AH date 982. The legend fills the field from top to bottom with no central device, the script rendered in high relief against an irregular hammered ground. A border of small dots or pellets encircles the outer edge of the coin. |
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| Reverse lettering | ضارب النضر صاحب العز والنصر في البر والبحر (Translation: Gold striker The glorious and victorious In the land and sea) |
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| Additional information |
Murad III's accession in 1574 brought immediate monetary reorganization — the sultani gold coinage, introduced under Suleiman the Magnificent in 1477 as a deliberate Ottoman answer to the Venetian ducat, was restruck to reflect the new reign. The Istanbul mint dominated sultani production, though Egyptian and other provincial mints struck their own issues with varying fineness that periodically required imperial correction.
By Murad's reign, the sultani had circulated widely enough to appear in European merchant account books under the name "chequin" — a corruption of "sikke," the Turkish word for coin.