Ottoman coin

[Lori]

Hello everybody !
I have this coin  : 40 PARA - KURUSH ,Abdulhamid AH 1187,  Constantinopole Mint, 17.55 grams, 38 mm diammeter . Details are  not far  from  the catalog references : 39 mm diammeter, weight 17,3 - 18,1 grams. Is this coin a genuine one ?

Many thanks and best regards !

[FosseWay]

Actual year of issue is year 8 of Abdul Hamid's reign, so AH 1194 / AD 1780. The regnal year is on the side in your lower picture, at the left end of the third line of text.

It's never 100% possible to be sure whether a coin is fake or real from just a photograph, but I can't see anything in the picture or the dimensions you give that suggests it's not real. The diameter and weight are acceptable, the coin "looks old" and it has a combination of accession + regnal years that exists. Further than that I can't go.

I don't have just this type (KM 398) but I have some of the lower denominations in the same series and would comment that yours looks like it has more silver than mine. Mine are much closer to coppery in colour. All of them are very low-grade silver; I don't know the precise fineness but I would imagine well below 20%. It could be that yours has been plated or that mine are unusually toned/dirty, or both.

[Manzikert]

It looks perfectly OK to me: what makes you suspect it might be a forgery?

Like FosseWay I don't have the exact date, but my example of KM 398 is:
Yr. 10, 17.61 gm, 38 mm

My understanding is that the larger denominations are 0.485 silver at this period.

Alan

[FosseWay]

My understanding is that the larger denominations are 0.485 silver at this period.

That would certainly explain the difference - thanks!

[Lori]

Many thanks to both of you for help and details.
Like FosseWay said, it looks like the coin was plated in the past  to increase the quality . I was a little suspicious about that.

  Best regards !

[FosseWay]

If the expected composition is approaching 50% silver then there's nothing wrong with the colour as far as I can see from the photograph. I was expecting all the denominations in the series to be similarly debased to e.g. the 5 and 10 para (which I have, and which look much more coppery as said). Untoned, uncleaned, uncorroded and undirty but nonetheless honestly worn 40-50% silver coins from European countries in the middle of the 20th century don't look much different from your piece in terms of colour.

But ultimately that's something you can only judge by having the coin in hand - the lighting in photos can be confusing.

[Manzikert]

I suspect it might have been 'pickled' to enrich the surface by dissolving out some of the copper, like many base coins. I have a couple of the 1223 0.220 and 0.170 silver issues which are GEF and they look like good silver coins, though when you see circulated examples they look horribly brown

Alan