Following Greek independence, the new kingdom faced a chronic shortage of small change and authorized the countermarking of Ottoman copper coinage already circulating in the territory. Turkish 40-para pieces of Abdülmecid I were stamped for official Greek use rather than melting and recoining — a faster solution to a practical problem. The countermark itself is Arabic script, which sits on a coin whose issuing authority was technically an enemy state within living memory of most Greeks handling it.
Following Greek independence, the new kingdom faced a chronic shortage of small change and authorized the countermarking of Ottoman copper coinage already circulating in the territory. Turkish 40-para pieces of Abdülmecid I were stamped for official Greek use rather than melting and recoining — a faster solution to a practical problem. The countermark itself is Arabic script, which sits on a coin whose issuing authority was technically an enemy state within living memory of most Greeks handling it.