A OTTOMAN TURKISH 40 PARAS COIN

By M.Beltagy

"When I was about 5 or 6 years old I visited my grandparents' house with my parents as always. The house is built with red bricks, the roof is made of wood and the floor was made of clay as most of old houses which was built at early 20's of last century. I found this coin stuck in the floor and thought it was 10 piasters or something and told my dad I found a piasters . He told me to go get some sweets for myself.

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I went to the store and the seller looked at that coin and didn't give it any attention, so he returned it to me and still gave me some sweets. When my grandfather passed away my father gave him money. I kept this coin until I entered college and began studying archeology – That’s when I began my path to research this coin. This coin is part of me when I look at it I think about my family who once lived in Turkey. My Grandfather's uncle, Abdullah ran away from their house and travelled to Turkey when he was young and returned to Egypt with his wife and daughter, Masouda and Hanifa, after the revolution there.

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When he was there, he used to serve in the Sultan palace. After he returned to Egypt, he lived there for many years until he died. After he passed away, his daughter and his wife returned to Istanbul. Since that we don't know anything about them, I feel very strange and full of emotions cause I somehow miss these people that I have never met. I hope to meet them one day that would be great. I wish I could travel and look for them and tell their story for everyone in Turkey. Maybe they told their own kids that they have family in Egypt, so maybe they looking for us too - who knows! As our Grandfather told my Father, and my Father told me, I will tell my sons too"