At the end of the first decade of the 20th century, Mehmed V took control of an empire in significant decline. Known as the sick man of Europe for about half a century, the Ottoman Empire was facing nationalist rebellions in the Balkans, territorial losses from wars with Russia, political instability and the Young Turk Revolution, Mehmed had taken control of increasingly polarized empire.
Before the start of the Balkan Wars, eliminating remaining European territorial claims the Ottoman Empire once had, Mehmed V had embarked on an Imperial Tour of the Balkan Provinces in June of 1911, creating some of the rarest and highly coveted coins of Islamic Numismatics.
What makes these particular coins interesting is not only the fact that all Ottoman coins at this period were minted in Constantinople, but that these would be the last Ottoman coins minted in Europe. Composed of five gold 100 Kurush coins, each minted in Edirne, Bursa, Salanik (Thessaloniki), Manastir (Bitola), Kosova (Pristina), resemble regular minted gold 100 Kurush coins of the era minted in Constantinople.
Obverse:
Reverse:
On the obverse, each coin features the Tughra on the center, showcasing the elaborate calligraphy unique to each sultan, along with the pseudonym “Reşâd” to the right of the Tughra, supplemented on the border by an olive branch. Right below the Tughra, the coin shows the year of the visit to the location in Arabic numerals:
Bursa Visit: 1909 (AH 1327)
Edirne Visit: 1910 (AH 1328)
Salonika Visit: 1911 (AH 1329)
Manastir Visit: 1911 (AH 1329)
Kosovo Visit: 1911 (AH 1329)
The reverse shows the mintage location. As standard Ottoman coins of the era would have been made in Constantinople, there is a deviance away from this as each coin features a unique inscription in Ottoman Turkish to show its mint location:
Bursa: Duriba fi Bursa ضرب في بورسه
Edirne: Duriba fi Edirne ضرب في ادرنة
Salanik: Duriba fi Salanik ضرب في سلانيك
Manastir: Duriba fi Manastir ضرب في مناستر
Kosova: Duriba fi Kosova ضرب في كوسوه
Upon the reverse, a continuance of the Tughra using the same calligraphy reads “عز نصره، ضرب في”, which means “May his victory be glorified.” Smaller denominations exist, but the 100 Kurush gold remains highly coveted by coin collectors due to their extremely low mintages, especially from the Balkan mints and their status as the last Ottoman coins minted in Europe before the Ottoman Empire’s expulsion a year later.
