40 Para Countermarked KAA 1884 on Turkey KM-670, AH1255

In 1884, the Greek government authorized countermarking large-format Ottoman copper coins — primarily the 40 Para pieces of Abdülmecid I — for continued circulation within Greek territory. The practice solved an immediate shortage of small change without the expense of a fresh minting, a fiscal shortcut common in the eastern Mediterranean where Ottoman coinage had circulated freely for generations after Greek independence in 1821. The countermark effectively re-monetized foreign copper at a fixed Greek valuation.

The host coin, struck at Constantinople under the AH1255 series, was already decades old by the time Greek authorities applied the KAA punch.