SEM-EDS ANALYSIS USED TO DETERMINE VALUE CHANGES IN OTTOMAN COINS BASED ON POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS

Abstract

Coins were used to maintain the commercial activities on a specific standard. They are significant written sources that enlighten the political, economic, and cultural life of the period they were produced. It is possible to find the coin collections belonging to different periods of Turkish history in museums. One of the important groups of these coins belongs to the Ottoman period. Although there are studies covering the periods of some Ottoman sultans by using advanced analysis techniques in the literature, no scientific study has been carried out covering all periods. The most extensive information that can be found about the coins is from the Ottoman archive and inventory records. In this study, twenty-six Ottoman Empire coins from Sakarya Museum dated between the 14th-19th centuries were evaluated stylistically, physically, and chemically. The non-destructive analysis of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) was employed to identify the elemental composition of the coins. The chemical analysis of coins showed the connection between the political situation in the Ottoman Empire and the decline in the value of the money.