A Sudanese dagger with a silver coin

[Yannis]

Something is strange here. 1896 Egypt was not part of Ottoman empire.

Mohamed Ali had declare indepentance 1840 and in mid 1882 the British colonized Egypt.

Is this coin a sultan's "wish" or Misr goes with something else here?

From late 18th century till early 20th ottoman empire was falling in pieces. Corruption in capital, european antagonists and ethnic revorlts. If it was not Kemal and "Neoturks" movement to stop the destruction, I dont know how the turkish state could be now days.

[Kamil]

Yannis, Misr is definitely Egypt. Nominally Egypt was a part of the Ottoman Empire until the WWI, thus Egyptian coins were Ottoman in fact, and decorated with tughras. The political situation in the Empire has nothing to do here. (BTW. the Europeans worked hard to make the things even worse.)

[Yannis]

Kamil

I have to read some history again

Do you mean that Ottoman sultan was the ruler of Misr, or just his coins were the main curency in Egypt in the fall of 19th century?

[Kamil]

Yannis,
nominally the sultans were rulers of Egypt, as well as the whole Empire. Egypt, as its part, has a special, semi-independent status and was ruled by representatives of sultan bearing the title of khedive (not to mention the role of English in that period), but the Egyptian currency was issued in the name of sultans. (The same currency was also used in some periods in the Sudan)

[Rather]

Kamil’s statements are right, all coins of Egypt were struck in the name of the Ottoman Sultan till 1914, the beginning of the British Occupation. Nevertheless, it was merely for formal reasons. (They were different from the coins being in circulation in Turkey, they only have the same Tughra, the "seal" of the Sultan on it)
Especially this coin in question does not fit into the traditionally monetary system of the Ottoman Empire, which counted 40 Para to the Quirsh. You see that the Quirsh is now divided into 10 parts and Copper-Nickel is used as a metal for coins. (until that date only pure copper, silver and gold were used) This type of coinage was introduced in the year 1886 AD, definitely under influence of the British, the “de facto rulers”. As far as I remember, they were even struck in Birmingham and put into circulation in Egypt.
Please also remember that the Sultan was till 1924 the Khalif, the spiritual leader of the Moslems. You will find his name even on some coins struck outside the Ottoman Empire, I own for instance a coin from Kashgar, minted 1873 AD with the name of Sultan Abdul Aziz on it, and for sure Kashgar was not a part of the Ottoman Empire.

[Flavio]

Thanks to all for the beautiful discussion on this coin/dagger.
The informations given are very interesting and precise.
Thank you very much, guys

[Lee]

Here is another example of one of these daggers, dated 1317 AH (= 1899 AD).