Finally tracked down a major Ottoman rarity!

Hello all,

So, I told myself that when I finally tracked down this coin, I'd become more active on the journal-message board side of things. So here's my newest Ottoman beauty!

The 1327 regnal year 7 ( 1915 in Western dating)20 Para had a mintage of 800 coins, split between two different types. My coin is the first type, with the name Reshat next to the Tughra on the obverse. How the mintage exactly breaks down between the two types is unknown, but I've read a theorized breakdown of 500 of the first type and 300 of the second. Adding to the rarity of this coin is the large number of them defaced by the rebel states of Hejaz and Nejd ( present day Saudi Arabia) in the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire that began in late 1916 and eventually led to the Ottoman Empire's defeat in World War I. Due to the low mintage, the defacement by the rebel states and just regular circulation and other sources of attrition, almost the entire 1915 mintage of 20 Paras is gone today. I actually missed out on one of these a few years ago, and had been kicking myself ever since as this coin is RARE!! Really rare, to the point where it's a non-competitive issue on the Registry and scores 1 Registry point. But, thankfully, I got a second chance and didn't miss it! I usually wait to debut new coins until after they've been to NGC, but I couldn't wait this time!! So please welcome my new little beauty!!

To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.