LEVANT: AR timmin (2.23g), AH[10]80 (1669), Wilski-Tim.01, Arabic script countermark naqd sahih (legal tender) and numeral 80 applied to a 1663-A France 1/12 écu (5 sols) of Louis XIII, KM-166.22 type, VF, RR. These countermarked coins were borne out of the Ottoman Empire's chronic shortage of silver coin, the production of which had come to a halt under Mehmet IV. This countermarked issue represents an effort to curtail the peddling of debased European silver coins as their higher purity relatives in Ottoman markets, while permitting the older pieces of good silver to circulate unhindered. Accepted at the rate of 1/8 of a Spanish Piece of Eight (hence the name timmin, derived from the Arabic tumn, "eighth"), these countermarked pieces essentially served as the backbone of an economy in crisis. These were likely countermarked in Smyrna (Izmir).
Estimate: USD 200 - 300