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Zeri Mahbub - Abdul Hamid I
| Issuer | Egypt |
|---|---|
| Year | 1778-1783 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Reference(s) | KM#127 |
| Obverse description | The obverse displays multiple lines of Arabic legend filling the central field, divided by a horizontal line into two registers. The upper register bears the sultan's name and titles in bold, flowing calligraphy, while the lower register contains the mint name Misr (Egypt) flanked by the regnal year number, with the Hijri date 1187 prominently struck below. A rope-like granulated border encircles the entire design. The legends are struck in relief with characteristic late Ottoman calligraphic style. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
The Zeri Mahbub was Egypt's workhorse gold denomination under Ottoman administration, circulating alongside European trade coins in a monetary environment where merchants routinely weighed rather than counted. Abdul Hamid I's reign coincided with mounting Ottoman military pressure from Russia following the disastrous 1774 Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca, and provincial mints like Cairo were expected to sustain fiscal output regardless of imperial distraction. Egyptian issues of this type frequently show uneven striking from worn dies — a known characteristic of the Cairo mint under pressure production, not collector subjectivity.