THE MINTS OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE
The recently published OTTOMAN MINTS AND COINS by Slobodan Sreckovic (Beograd, 2002) is the definitive work on this subject, and is highly recommended. For each mint, the author provides the following information: the name in the Ottoman Turkish, Arabic, and Modern forms; the eyalet (district); a mini-map of the area; illustrated variations of how the name was inscribed; a list of all known coins struck there (with both years and denominations), and a bibliography to reference where the coins have been previously published. It is truly an outstanding and long-needed work.

What follows is a list of all known mints of the Ottoman Empire, adapted from Sreckovic's book. The mint names are given in their [Ottoman] Turkish forms, followed by their modern names, (only if different), in parenthesis.


KEY
{ }= additional part of mintname not always present
( ) = modern name/country, if different
[ ] = additional notes
?? = uncertain mint
Types of metals:
G = gold
S =silver
C = copper
N = nickel

Istanbul (Constantinople) established itself as the main mint of the Ottoman Empire. Long after all the other mints had  closed down, the Darphane mint was still churning out coins, right up until the very end. A refurbished Darphane continues to be the sole mint of the Turkish Republic

Konstantiniye G,S,C,N [followed by El Mahrusa (the guarded) on some gold coinage of 1223 only]
Islambol G,S [this name was used from 1115-1203]
Dar el-Sultanie el-Aliyye G [on gold coinage of 1187/2 only]
Dar ul Hilafe G [on gold coinage of 1223/15 only, followed by Elaliye (supreme abode) or Elseniye (exalted abode)]

Other mints:

Aden ('Adan, Yemen) G,S,C
Adilcevaz C
Amasya G,S,C
{Kara} Amid (Diyarbakir) G,S,C [Kara on 1009 and later coinage, different mint?]
Ankara S [name used from 886AH onwards]
  Eng�riye S,C [original name, pre-886AH]
Antep (Gaziantep) C
Ardanu� G,S
Ayasluk (Sel�uk) S,C
Bagdad (Baghdad, Iraq) G,S,C
Balad S
Balya S
Banaluka (Banja Luka, Bosnia & Herzegovina) S
Basra (Al Basrah/Basra, Iraq) G,S,C
Baybirt (Bayburt) G ??
Belgrad (Beograd/Belgrade, Yugoslavia) G,S
Bergama C
Besni S
Bey?ehir S
Bitlis G,S,C
Bolu C
Bosna (Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina) C [on a mangir of 1099]
   Saray S,C  [same town, different mint? name used on an akce of 1032 and a mangir of 1100]
Bursa G,S,C
Cerbe (Jerba, Tunisia) G
{el} Cezayir{i Garb} (Alger/Algiers, Algeria) G,S,C [additional portions of name used in various combinations on gold coinage only]
Cizre G,S,C
�an�a (G�m�?hane) G,S
   G�m�?hane S (same town, new name, used on coinage of 1143)
�emiskezek C
Dem�rkapu (Derbent, Dagestan/Russian Federation) S
Dhi Mamar (in Yemen) S,C
Dimi?k (Dimashq/Damascus, Syria) G,S,C
   ?am G,S [this name found on coinage of 923]
Edirne G,S,C
Egridir C
Elince (Alinca?, Azerbaycan) G [fortress on the road from Naxcivan to Culfa]
Ercis (Erci?) S ?? [on a do ?ahi dated 941, listed under the Hizan mint in Screckovic's book but with a footnote]
Erzincan C ??
Erzurum G,S,C
Filibe (Plovdiv, Bulgaria) S
Gelibolu S
Gen�e (G�nc�, Azerbaycan) G,S
Germiyan (K�tahya) S,C
G�zelhisar (Aydin) S
Haleb (Halab/Aleppo, Syria) G,S,C
Harpurt (Harput) S,C
Hille (Al Hillah, Iraq) G,S
{el} Hisn{keyf}{a}  (Hasankeyf) G,S,C [4 different versions of this name, unsure if there were actually multiple mints operating out of the same town]
Hizan S
Ineg�l S
Izmir G,S
{El} Kahire (Cairo, Egypt) C
Ka?gar (Kashi, China) G,S,C [named followed by Mahrusai (guarded by God), Darussultanayi (seat of the Sultanate), or Latif (pleasant/beautiful]
Kawkaban (in Yemen) S,C
Kigi C
Kafsa (Gafsa, Tunisia) S
Karahisar (Afyon) S,C
Kars S
Kastamonu S,C
Kayravan (Kairouan, Tunisia) S,C
Kayseri S
Kibris (Cyprus) S
Konya S,C
Kosnataniye (Kostantina, Algeria) G,S,C
Kratova (Kratovo, Macedonia) G,S
Ku�ayna (Kucajna, Yugoslavia) G,S,C
Ladik (Denizli) C
Larende/Laderne (Karaman) S
Malhaz (in Yemen) C [Ottoman military camp in Yemen]
Manisa S
Mara? G,S,C
Mardin G,S,C
Midye (Medea, Algeria) S
{El Mahrusa} Misir (Cairo, Egypt) G,S,C,N ["El Mahrusa on some early mangirs only]
Mudava (Moldova Veche, Romania) G,S
Mokha (Al Mukha, Yemen) C
Musul (Al Mawsil/Mosul, Iraq) G,S,C
M�k�s (Bah�esaray) S
Nah�ivan (Naxcivan, Azerbaycan) G,S
Nigbolu (Nikopol, Bulgaria) S
Novaberda, Novar (Novo Brdo/Kosovo, Yugoslavia) G,S,C [two different mints that operated in the same town]
Nusaybin S,C
Ohri (Ohrid, Macedonia) S
Orduyu H�mayun G [royal army mint]
Prevadi (Provadiya, (Bulgaria) S
Revan (Yerevan, Armenia) G,S
Ruha (Urfa) G,S,C
Sada (Sa-dah, Yemen) C
Sakiz (Hios, Greece) G,S
Sana{n} (San'a, Yemen) G,S,C [extra "n" on pre-974 coins only]
Saray (Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina) S,C
Selanik (Thessaloniki, Greece) G,S
Serez, Siroz (Serres, Greece) G,S [two different mints that operated in the same town]
Sidrekapsi (Sidherokaps, Greece) G,S
Siirt G,C
Sivas S
Sofya (Sofia, Bulgaria) S
Srebreni�e (Srebrenica, Bosnia & Herzegovina) G,S
?amahi (Shemakha, Azerbaycan) G,S
?irvan (?amaxi, Azerbaycan) G,S,C
Tacura (in Libya) G
Taiz (Ta'izz, Yemen) G,S
Tebriz (Tabriz, Iran) G,S
Tlemsen (Tlemcen, Algeria) G,S
Tiflis (Tbilisi, Georgia) G,S
Tire S,C
Tokat G,S
Trablus[garb] (Tarabulus/Tripoli, Libya) G,S,C
Trablus (Tripoli, Lebanon) S
Trabzon G,S
Tunus (Tunis, Tunisia) G,S,C
�sk�p (Skopje, Macedonia) G,S,C
Van S,C
Zebid (Zabid, Yemen) G,S,C

Gold and silver commemorative "mint visit" coinage of Mehmed V
"From time to time, certain cities of the Ottoman Empire...were honored by having special coins struck at Istanbul, but with inscriptions stating that they were struck in the city of honor. These were produced on the occasion of the Sultan's visit to that city. The coins were struck in limited, but not small quantities, and were probably intended for distribution to the notables of the city and the Sultan's own followers.  Because they were of the same size and type as the regular circulation issues struck at Istanbul, man specimens found their way into circulaion and worn or mounted specimens are found today, although some have been preservd in XF or better condition Mintage statistics are not known."
(From the Krause Standard Catalog of World Coins)
Bursa
Edirne
Kosova
(Pristina/Kosovo, Yugoslavia)
Manastir
(Bitola, Macedonia)
Selanik
(Thesaloniki, Greece)
Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

1