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25 Kurus - Mehmed V Constantinople
| Issuer | Ottoman Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 1909-1914 |
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| Orientation | Medal alignment ↑↑ |
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| Obverse description | The elaborate tughra of Sultan Mehmed V (Reshad) occupies the central field, flanked to the right by the word 'Reshat' in Arabic script. Seven five-pointed stars are arranged in a semicircle along the upper collar. In the lower exergue, two crossed torches with intertwined laurel branches are depicted, above which appears the regnal year numeral in Eastern Arabic script. The composition is characteristic of late Ottoman coinage, combining the imperial cipher with decorative foliate elements. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Arabic |
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| Additional information |
Mehmed V was sultan in name more than in power — by the time this series began, the Committee of Union and Progress had effectively reduced the throne to a ceremonial function following the 1908 Young Turk Revolution. These gold kurus were struck at the Constantinople mint during a period when the empire was hemorrhaging territory: the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–12 cost Libya, and the two Balkan Wars of 1912–13 stripped away nearly all remaining European holdings. The regnal year sequence on these pieces tracks, almost coin by coin, the empire's contraction.