Sale: CNG 63, Lot: 1755. Estimate $2500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 21 May 2003.  Sold For $2500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CRUSADERS. Emirs of Aydin (Ionia). Omar Beg. 1341-1348. AR Gigliato (3.83 gm). Theologos (Ephesus) mint. +:MONETA:QUE:FIT:IN:ThEOLOGOS:, prince enthroned on lion throne, holding sceptre and globus cruciger / +:DE:MANDATO:DNI:EIUSDE:LOCI, floreate cross. Schlumberger pg. 485, 7 (cf. plate XVIII, 15); Scarfea 995; Metcalf, Crusades -; CCS -. Toned, good VF, slightly double struck. Extremely rare. ($2500)

After the collapse of the Seljuq realm in the early14th century, a collection of Turkish beyliks, or small principalities took over the regions comprising ancient Ionia, Caria, and Lydia. Many established friendly trading relationships with the Crusader successor states in the Aegean, and made use of copies of the Italian gigliati in their commerce. Eventually the gigliato was replaced by the Turkish akce, as the beyliks were soon to be absorbed by the most powerful of their number, the Ottomans. Mehmet II, the conqueror of Constantinople, brought the last of the emirs under Ottoman control by 1480.