Ok, I think I'll pause my ongoing holy silver series for a while, I have still lots of pieces to share but I got bored of sharing my silver icons.
How about one my recent coin additions? A Turkish silver lira from 1948!
A pretty basic front, featuring the denomination and a wreath, a symbol traditionally used for victory and honor. In this case, it is made of wheat ears, symbolizing the importance of agriculture for the Turkish economy and culture.
The other side is plain as well
Here we have a star and a crescent, surrounded by the words "Türkiye Cumhuriyeti" for Republic of Turkey and the minting date. As you probably know, the star and the crescent is a prominent symbol used in all kinds of context both in the old Ottoman republic, modern Turkey and Islam related stuff, so no wonder it found it's way here.
However, what you may not know is that it actually originates from the Greek colony of Byzantium. Feel free to visit wikipedia to learn more about it's history if you like!
The side of the coin keeps on the basic theme. No engravings or other fancy stuff:
The coin weights 7.5 g and is made of 0.600 silver. The rest is copper. So, about 4.5 grams of pure silver. With today's spot price that is about 3.2 $.
All in all, a basic and imo quite boring coin. It is the first one I own from modern Turkey, hopefully I'll get more if I see any popping on the market for a decent price!
References