Catalog
Sultani - Selim II
| Issuer | Ottoman Empire |
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| Year | 1567 |
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| Currency | Akçe (1517-1687) |
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| Obverse description | The obverse displays multiple horizontal registers of bold Arabic calligraphic script in the thuluth style, filling the entire field. The central legend proclaims the sultan's titulature, identifying Selim II as Sultan. The inscription is densely rendered with interlocking letterforms characteristic of Ottoman hammered gold coinage, with no border or decorative ornament framing the legends. |
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| Obverse script | Arabic |
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| Additional information |
Selim II inherited the throne in 1566 following the death of Suleiman the Magnificent during the siege of Szigetvár — a campaign Selim himself did not join, a fact his contemporaries noted with contempt. The sultani as a gold denomination had been calibrated to compete directly with the Venetian ducat in Levantine trade, and Ottoman mints maintained the weight standard with enough consistency that merchants across the eastern Mediterranean accepted them without assay.
Selim's reign saw the disastrous naval defeat at Lepanto in 1571, though Ottoman financial infrastructure absorbed the loss more readily than western sources typically acknowledge. The Algiers mint remained productive throughout.