Ottoman coins in Kars Museum(18th century-20th century)

The most important factor that enables states to survive and sustain their existence is how strong their economy is. The foundation of economic activities is also based on money. Considering that money is the driving force of economic activities, the importance of the coins which constitute the subject of our thesis will be revealed. With their invention, coins also represented the power of the ruler they belonged to in addition to carrying the economic conditions, artistic understanding, social and cultural structures of the states. Due to their durability, they are among the written and visual sources that provide the most reliable evidence in terms of survival of information to date without deformation regarding the states of centuries ago. In our study, the examination of the Ottoman Coins found in Kars Museum is significant for the investigation of the artistic understanding, cultural richness and the economic condition of the Ottoman Empire between the 18th and 20th centuries through the properties of the coins such as their material, weight etc. While the Ottoman coins of the period between the aforementioned dates were examined, Kars province and Kars Museum were discussed. Furthermore, the features of the coins, whose historical development we examined, such as form, decoration, material, mint, were evaluated within their own period. In the light of the latest information obtained, the coins discussed in our study were assessed for similarities and differences with the coins of the Anatolian Seljuks, Ilkhanids and Germiyans, and the results were stated. Considering that the Ottoman coins discussed in our thesis represented the most complicated, most unsteady and most difficult period of the State as per the period they belonged to, cooperation of Kars Museum, which had a rich range of coins reaching five thousand, was obtained so that our study could enlighten the period.