Catalog
Sultani - Murad III Damascus
| Issuer | Ottoman Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 1575 |
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| Currency | Akçe (1516-1687) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Arabic |
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| Reverse description | Entirely epigraphic reverse bearing a multi-line Arabic legend distributed across the field in the Ottoman hammered tradition. The inscription proclaims the sultan's glory and dominion over land and sea, serving as a standard reverse type for Ottoman sultani gold coinage of the Damascus mint. Individual lines of script are separated by decorative dot ornaments, and the letters display the bold, angular calligraphic style characteristic of sixteenth-century Ottoman die engraving. The irregular flan edges are consistent with hand-hammered production at a provincial mint. |
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| Additional information |
Murad III's accession in 1574 brought immediate fiscal pressure: he inherited a treasury strained by his father Selim II's costly Cyprus campaign and an increasingly expensive Janissary corps demanding donatives on every new reign. The Damascus mint, one of the few provincial Ottoman facilities authorized to strike gold sultani, served the Levantine trade routes where Venetian ducats remained the dominant competitor — a rivalry the Porte was keenly aware of and the sultani's weight standard was calibrated to address.
Damascus mint output for this type is considerably lower than Constantinople, making provincially struck sultani from the 1574–1595 reign harder to attribute with confidence. Pere #266 distinguishes the issue by mint name placement relative to the toughra.