AH1203/10 (1798/99) Ottoman NGC MS65 Turkey GOLD 1/2 Zeri Mabub TOP POP only 2

Description

Only two graded at NGC including this coin, both in MS65, and none at all graded at PCGS.  For this year PCGS has only graded a full Zeri Mabub, no halves like this coin.  Someone has taken good care of it for 222 years.
This lustrous gold coin was struck in the Ottoman Empire at Islambul in Turkey, under Sultan Selim III.  This was the year, 1798, that Napoleon invaded Ottoman-Controlled Egypt, and the Ottoman Empire joined Russia and Britain against France.  Selim III was later deposed, taken prisoner, and murdered by the Janissaries (kids kidnapped from non-Muslim families and raised as elite soldiers).  These coins would have been happily accepted by Barbary Pirates and merchants from Mysore to Malaysia alike.
So, I wish I could offer you the whole Zeri Mabub, but this is as good as it gets here.  We are working hard to bring you the whole Zeri Mabub someday.