Cedid Mahmudiye Nisfiyesi - Mahmud II Kostantiniyye mint

The Cedid Mahmudiye series was introduced in 1829 as part of Mahmud II's sweeping monetary reform, the most significant Ottoman coinage overhaul in over a century. The reform was driven partly by the chronic debasing of earlier issues and partly by the sultan's broader modernization agenda — the same program that abolished the Janissaries in 1826 and restructured the Ottoman bureaucracy along European lines. The nisfiye, a half-unit denomination, occupied a practical middle tier in daily commerce during a period when the empire's financial credibility was under sustained pressure from war debts and the Greek independence settlement.

At .830 fine, these were struck to a notably higher gold standard than many contemporary issues from the same mint.