The debutant minting of the 25, 50, 100, 250, and 500 Turkey Gold Kurush coin is traceable to 1980 (AH1225) although mass production began in 1950. Its history dates as far back as 1876 during the regime of Abdul Hamid II, which lasted between 1876 and 1909 AD (AH1293 and AH1327). The Turkish Government began issuing Turkish gold coins in consistency with the conventional denominations in 1943.
The Turkey Gold Kurush coin features both artistic and historic designs. For example, most of these gold coins have both the AD and traditional dates inscribed on them. Each of the coins features two branches crossing beneath the tughra with reshat towards the right on the obverse. The reverse contains a star to the top and branches that encircle the date, value, and text inscriptions within the wreath. Each coin also has the dates of a sultan’s reign i.e. 1293 and 1327 for Abdul Hamid II and Muhammad V.
All the denominations of the Turkey Gold Kurush have different dimensions, weights, and pure gold weights. The 25 Kurush coin is 14 millimeters in diameter. It weighs about 1.8040g and has a pure gold weight of 0.0532 t/oz. The 50 Kurush coin is 4 millimeters wider than the 25 Kurush coin and 4 millimeters narrower than the 100 Kurush coin. The 50 and 100 Kurush coins weigh 3.6080g and 7.2160g respectively. Their pure gold weights are 0.1604 and 0.2128 t/oz respectively. The 250 Kurush coin is 26 millimeters in diameter, has a gross weight of 18.0400g and a gold fineness of 0.9170 t/oz. The 500 Kurush coin comes in smaller and larger coin forms. The smaller coin has a gross weight of 17.54g and a gold weight of 0.517 t/oz. The larger 500 Kurush coin weighs 36.08g with a gold weight of 1.034 t/oz.
The Turkish State Mint – whose official name is the General Directorate of Mint and Printing Office – produces all the Turkey Gold Kurush coins. The Mint was established in 1467 under the Ottoman Empire as a replacement of the Constantinople Mint. It is situated in central Istanbul and institutionalized under the Under-secretariat of Treasury.
