500 Kuruş

Issued under the early Turkish Republic, these gold pieces were struck at the Istanbul Mint (Darphane) as part of Atatürk's sweeping monetary reforms following the establishment of the Republic in 1923. The series replaced Ottoman coinage as part of a deliberate break from imperial monetary tradition — the new designs carried secular republican imagery at a moment when the caliphate had just been abolished.

Circulation of high-denomination gold was limited from the outset; most pieces were absorbed into savings or jewelry use, a practice deeply embedded in Anatolian household economics that continues to affect the survival of these coins in genuinely worn condition.