Sultani - Selim II Damascus

Selim II inherited an empire at its administrative peak but is better remembered for the catastrophic naval defeat at Lepanto in 1571 than for any expansion of his own. The Damascus mint was among the most productive of the provincial Ottoman gold-striking facilities, serving trade networks that ran from the Levantine coast deep into the Arabian interior. Provincial sultani from Damascus occasionally show slightly softer strikes than Istanbul output, a known characteristic of the mint rather than a circulation artifact.