4 000 000 Lira Tophane

The 4,000,000 lira denomination reflects the grotesque inflation Turkey suffered through the 1990s, when the lira lost roughly 99% of its value against the dollar over the decade. By 1999, issuing a silver coin at face value of four million lira was not hyperbole — it was arithmetic. The Turkish government would eventually redenominate in 2005, dropping six zeroes entirely and introducing the New Turkish Lira.

Tophane, the Istanbul district for which this piece is named, housed the Ottoman imperial cannon foundry from the 15th century onward and later became the site of the Darphane itself.