Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
4 Rial - Abdulaziz and Muhammad III
| Issuer | Tunisia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1871-1876 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 4 Rial |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Central field bears a three-line Arabic legend naming the Ottoman Sultan Abd al-Aziz Khan, arranged within an ornate wreath of two symmetrically flanking palm branches tied at the base. The legend reads in flowing calligraphic script across three registers. A fine dentilated border encircles the entire design, framing the inscription and foliate wreath in a style characteristic of Tunisian Husainid coinage of the later nineteenth century. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | محمد الصادق بتونس ٤ ١٢٩٠ (Translation: Regency of Mohammed as-Sadiq in Tunisia, 4, 1290) |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Tunisia's bimetallic monetary system in the 1870s reflected an awkward political reality: the Husainid beys maintained nominal Ottoman suzerainty while operating under increasingly suffocating French financial pressure. This coin bears the names of both the reigning bey, Muhammad III ibn Husayn, and the Ottoman sultan Abdulaziz — a pairing that became complicated when Abdulaziz was deposed and died in 1876, the same year this type ceased production.
The French Protectorate was still a decade away, but Tunisian finances were already in crisis by 1869, when the government declared bankruptcy and an international financial commission effectively seized control of the treasury.